HANDBOUND AT THE %ivev\> Companies of the Cit\> of ILonbon. N THE LIVERY COMPANIES Of the City of London THEIR ORIGIN, CHARACTER, DEVELOPMENT, AND SOCIAL AND POLITICAL IMPORTANCE BY W. CAREW HAZLITT Of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law Witb ZTwo Coloured plates an& IFlumcrous Jllustrations S W A N S O N N E N S C H E I N £ C O. PATERNOSTER SQUARE NEW YORK: MACMILLAN & CO. 1892 BUTLER & TANNER, THE SKLWOOD PRINTING WORKS, FROME, AND LONDON. CONTENTS. PREFACE. — The Royal Commission, i. Commission not directly Operative, 2. The Common Hall. Trust and Corporate Estates separable, 3. Ostensible Object of Foundation, 4. The Royal Commission Advantageous, 4. Danger averted by Dis- closure, 5. Agitation for Disendowment, 6. Civic Bodies Valuable as General Social Factors, 6. The City and the Peerage, 7. Gain of the Aristocracy from Municipal Alliances, 8. The Companies an indefeasible Element of London Life, 8. General Survey of the Question, 9. Citibono? 10. A Word with Parliament, 1 1. Adaptation to Changed Circumstances, 11. Conditions Favouring and Influencing Establishment, 12. Germ of the Gild, 13. Its Constitution, 13. Protectionist Spirit, 13. Causes conducive to Association, 14. Its Benefits, 15. Balancing Drawbacks, 15. Foreign Source of our Gilds, 16. The Ancient Trading Companies, 17. A New Era in Com- mercial History, 18. Foreign Wars Beneficial to the Gilds, 18. Enfranchisement of the London Trades, 18. Obscurity of Origin, 19. Constitution of the Gild, 19. The Yeomanry, 20. Source of their Discontent, 20. A Plea for the Governing Bodies, 21. Patrimony Disadvantageous to the Yeomanry, 21. The Ordinances, 21. Licences in Mortmain, 22. The Power of Search, 22. Feudalism, 23. The word Mistery, 24. Apparel, ibid. Amalgamating Movement, 26. The Ulster Plantation, 28. Origin of the Revenue, 28. Change of Plan. The Irish Society, 29. Undivided Residue, 29. Licence in Mortmain, 30. Value and Purchase-money, 30. Revocation of Charter by Star Chamber, 30. Restoration by Cromwell, 30. Later History, 30. The Subshares, 31. Litigation, 31. Difference between the Gilds and the Trades' Union, 32. Wages, 32. Plurality, 32. Admittance of Strangers, 33. The Gild the Forerunner of the Poorhouse and Hospital, 33. Reasons for Confidence in it, 33. Ac- quisition of Real Property, 34. Departure from Original Design and Professions, 34. Exceptional Success of Certain Bodies, 34. Suggested Consolidation of the Minor Companies, 35. Further Modification Possible, 36. Such a Contingency the Out- come of External Changes, 36. The City Freeholds, 36. Their various Sources, 37. Prostration of Strength by the Fire of 1666, 37. Causes of Revival, 38. The Present Work, 39. Its Design, 39. The Return of 1882, 39. Existing Accounts of the Companies, 40. Our Own Text, 40. Statistical Details, 40. Trade Usages and Pretensions, 41. Permanent Value of the Returns of 1882, 41. The Present Book a Comprehensive Synopsis, 42. Normal Periodical Incidence, 42. The Writ of Quo Warranto, 42. Order of Arrangement, 43. Executive Staffs, 43. Literary Memorials, 43. Mr. Welsh's Bibliography, 44. The City Pageants, 44. Loss of many of the Printed Copies, 45. Unpublished Narratives, 45. Absence of Archaeo- logical Interest, 46. And of Characteristic Memorials, 47. Obligations to Helpers, 47- The Graphic Part of the Volume, 48. Our Genuine Purpose, 49. Oral Inquiry, Parliamentary Session, 1882, 57. Oral Inquiry, Parliamentary Session, 1883, 58. Charity Commission Papers, 59. Minor Companies, 60. GENERAL INTRODUCTION, 6 1. Provincial and Continental Gilds, 72. Number of Members, 8 1. Great Companies, 84. Minor Companies, 85. Expenditure: (i) Trust. (2) Corporate, 91. Corporate Income, 96. Mode in which the Corporate Estate was Acquired, 98. b vj CONTENTS. VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS WHICH HAVE DISAPPEARED, OR HAVE MERGED IN THE LIVERY GILDS. PAGE The White and Brown Bakers The Bladesmiths, or Bladers IO5 The Block-makers The Braelers, or Brace-makers The Burillers The Cappers The Carmen The Cheesemongers The Comb makers iri The Corders of the Ropery .... The Free Fishermen l11 The Forcers, or Casket-makers II2 The Fullers II2 The Furbishers IJ3 The Gardeners IT4 The Haberdashers of St. Katherine the Virgin, and of St. Nicholas . .115 The Hatband Makers Il6 The Hatters "7 The Heaumers JI7 The Hostelers and Haymongers n? The Hurers Hurriers or Milliners 120 The Linen Drapers • .121 TheMarblers 121 The Parish Clerks r I23 The Paviours 125 The Pepperers 126 The Pinners, or Pin-makers 13 l The Planers 132 The Potters 133 The Pouch-makers . 133 The Pursers or Glovers' Pursers 134 The Shearmen (Pannarii) or Retunders 134 The Sawyers .......... ... 137 The Sheathers 137 The Shivers 137 The Silkmen . . 138 The Silk-Throwers or Throwsters . . . . . . . . .139 The Soapers or Soap-makers 140 The Spicers 141 The Spurriers ...... ...... 141 The Starch-makers 142 The Stock-fishmongers 143 The Stringers ............. 144 The Surgeons . 145 The Tapissers or Tapestry-makers ' . . 147 The Grey Tawyers or Tanners . . 147 The White Tawyers . . 148 The Tobacco-pipe Makers .,.-'•. . .148 The Makers of Vinegar, Aqua Vitse, and Aqua Composita . . . .149 The Watermen '. 149 CONTENTS. vii The Woodmongers 151 The Wool-packers 153 Proposed Corporation of Society or Retail Traders of London and the Suburbs ............. 154 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION WHICH SURVIVES IN THAT FORM. The Fellowship Porters 154 FOREIGN CORPORATIONS. The Alien Weavers 156 The Flemish Weavers 1 56 OTHER RIVERSIDE TRADING COMPANIES 157 THE GREAT COMPANIES. The Mercers 169 The Grocers 187 The Drapers 198 The Fishmongers 215 The Goldsmiths 232 The Skinners 250 The Merchant Taylors 263 The Haberdashers 285 The Salters . 292 The Ironmongers 298 The Vintners 3*5 The Cloth workers 33 1 THE MINOR COMPANIES. The Apothecaries 347 The Armourers and Braziers 355 The Bakers 35^ The Barbers 361 The Basket- makers 369 The Blacksmiths 37° The Bowyers 374 The Brewers 377 The Broderers 39* The Butchers 396 The Carpenters 4^5 The Clockmakers 4^7 The Coach and Coach-harness Makers 426 The Cooks .... The Coopers The Cordwainers The Curriers 456 The Cutlers *6i The Distillers 46' The Dyers The Fanmakers • The Farriers „• The Feltmakers The Fletchers The Founders or Coppersmiths The Framework Knitters or Stocking Weavers The Fruiterers The Girdlers The Glass-Sellers 5M VIII CONTENTS. The Glaziers 517 The Glovers , . 520 The Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers 523 The Gunmakers 528 The Homers [and Bottlers] ........ , 530 The Innholders ............ 537 The Joiners ... 543 The Leathersellers 548 The Loriners jgj The Masons ........... 564 The Musicians or Minstrels ^68 The Needlemakers 57 x The Painters or Painter-Stainers 57^ The Patten Makers rg2 The Pewterers rg4 The Plaisterers or Pargettors coO The Playing-Card Makers .... rQ^ The Plumbers ThePoulters *™ The Saddlers ' ^J The Scriveners .... /: The Shipwrights .... t The Spectacle-makers 6 The Stationers ..... 6^ The Tallow Chandlers .... ^ The Tin-plate Workers TU T •••••... 646 I he Turners , The Tylers and Bricklayers .... 6 The Upholders or Upholsters . The Wax Chandlers The Weavers ... ... 656 The Wheelwrights . TheWoolmcn. 667 670 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Port-Soc 61 Initial Letter. — A King receiving a Petition ........ 103 Arms of the White Bakers 105 ,, Brown Bakers . . . . . . * . . . . . 105 „ Comb-makers in „ Gardeners 114 „ Hatband Makers 116 The Ancient Hosteler . . . . • 118 Arms of the Marblers 121 Present Arms of the Parish Clerks 123 Arms of the Parish Clerks, 1633 (from Stow) . . . . . . .124 Early Arms of the Parish Clerks 124 Arms of the Paviours . . . .125 Gerard's Hall 127 Arms of the Pinners or Pinmakers . . . . . . . . 131 ,, Silkmen ............ 138 „ Silk-Throwers or Throwsters . . . . . . . 139 „ Soapers or Soap-makers ......... 140 „ Starchmakers 142 „ Stringers 144 „ Surgeons 145 „ Tobacco-Pipe Makers 148 „ Watermen 149 „ Woodmongers . . . . . • • . • • • IS1 „ Woolpackers • 153 „ Merchants of the Staple 157 „ Merchants Adventurers 158 „ Merchants of Elbing . . . .158 „ Merchants of Russia 159 „ Merchants of the Levant 159 „ Virginia Company 160 „ African Company J6o „ Merchants of East India .161 „ Merchants of Spain J6i „ New French Merchants Adventurers 162 „ French Merchants " l62 „ Hudson's Bay Company l63 „ South Sea Company l&3 Hall of the Teutonic Gild Arms of the Mercers '^9 Death of Whittington !7! Portrait of Whittington I73 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Crest of Whittington . Mercers' Original Arms - Old Hall ..-• Modern Hall, 1842, Entrance in Cheapside . . ^ Liverymen Temp. James I. Liverymen Temp. Henry VI. (A.D. H44) • ^ Liveryman Temp. James I Sir Thomas Gresham, Citizen and Mercer Exterior view of the Royal Exchange, 1569 !°3 Mercers' Company.-Salt-cellar (T/th century) J°5 Arms of the Grocers ' Plan of Grocers' Hall and Garden J93 Wardens' Garlands |9^ Arms of the Drapers Old Arms of the Drapers x" Drapers' Hall.— The Cromwell House 2O7 The Ground-plan of the Cromwell Premises 2O9 Arms of the Fishmongers 2I5 Plan of Old Fishmongers' Hall and its Environs 224 Fishmongers' Hall about 1650 225 Fishmongers' Hall in 1739 226 Walworth's Dagger 229 Arms of the Goldsmiths. . 232 Old Arms of the Goldsmiths 233 Goldsmiths' Hall in 1739 245 Goldsmiths' Hall.— The Present Staircase 246 Goldsmiths' Hall.— Ewer of the 1 8th Century 247 Arms of the Skinners 250 Old Arms of the Skinners 251 Arms of the Merchant Taylors 263 The Common Seal 264 Original Arms of the Merchant Taylors 270 Plan shewing portion of Merchant Taylors' Hall and Offices in 1669 . . . 274 Interior of Merchant Taylors' Hall, 1842 276 Rose-water Dish of the Early Part of the 1 7th century 277 Silver Cloth Yard 280 Arms of the Haberdashers 285 Old Arms of the Haberdashers 286 Cup of Haberdashers' Company 289 Arms of the Salters 292 Old Arms of the Salters 295 Arms of the Ironmongers 298 Ironmongers' Marks .... .... 299 „ Common Seal 300 „ Election Garland 301 Hall about 1560 306 Dado at Ironmongers' Hall .... 307 Whiffler and Henchman . 309 Cresset 3IO The Lord Mayor's Show. Wild or Greenwood Men clearing the way . .311 Arms of the Vintners .... 315 The Vintners' Old Arms 317 Vintners' Hall about 1650 . . . .324 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XI Stoneware Jug (i6th Century) .......... 327 Old Arms of the Cloth workers 331 Arms of the Cloth workers . . . . . . . . . . .332 Plan of Hall, from Agas, 1560 337 Two Plans shewing the site and area of the Hall demolished in 1862 . . . 338 Rose-water Dishes and Ewers, 1593-1880 340 The Apothecaries' Arms 347 Old Arms of the Apothecaries t . 348 Ancient Mortar, formerly at Apothecaries' Hall 351 Arms of the Armourers and Braziers, from Stow 355 A Funeral Card 357 Arms of the Bakers 358 „ Barbers . . . . . . . . . . . .361 A Barber and his Implements in 1688 362 Old Arms of the Barbers 363 Figures from the Holbein Picture at Barbers' Hall ...... 365 Barbers' Hall. The Court-room . 366 Loving Cup in the possession of the Barbers' Company 367 Loving Cup presented to the Barbers by Charles II 368 Arms of the Basket-makers 369 Old Arms of the Basket-makers 369 Arms of the Blacksmiths ........... 370 Old Arms of the Blacksmiths 37 1 Arms of the Bowyers 374 Old Arms of the Bowyers 375 Arms of the Brewers 377 Early Arms of the Brewers (from Stow, 1633) 380 The Tumbril 381 Crest or Cognizance of Hickson 3^6 Crest of Owen 387 Arms of Platt 3^8 Old Arms of the Broderers 39 l Arms of the Butchers 39^ Old Arms of the Butchers 397 Arms of the Carpenters ............ 4°5 Old Arms of the Carpenters 4°5 William Portington, Esquire, Master Carpenter in the Office of His Majesty's Buildings, 1628 4°7 Carpenters' Hall, 1664. Shewing frontage to London Wall . 4' 2 Carpenters' Hall, 1664. The garden frontage 4* 3 Arms of the Clockmakers 4'7 Early Arms of the Clockmakers (from Stow, 1633) 4'9 Initial Ornament of Charter 42° Warden's Badge 421 Master's Badge or Jewel 42 1 Clockmakers' Plate The Adams Cup Arms of the Cooks Old Arms of the Cooks Arms of the Coopers An Ancient Cooperage Old Arms of the Coopers The Coopers' Marks, A.D. 1420 43 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Facsimile from Book of Accounts (Coopers), 1576 ...... 442 Arms of the Cordwainers ........... 449 Old Arms of the Cordwainers .......... 450 Arms of the Curriers ............ 456 „ Cutlers ............ 461 Old Arms of the Cutlers ........... 462 Arms of the Distillers ............ 467 Old Arms of the Distillers ........... 468 Arms of the Dyers . . . . .' . , . . . . 472 Old Arms of the Dyers ............ 472 Arms of the Fanmakers ...... ..... 478 Early Arms of the Fanmakers ......... 4^0 Arms of the Farriers ........... ,go Old Arms of the Farriers . . .-, Arms of the Feltmakers ......... ,g , Old Arms of the Feltmakers ........ ,g^ Arms of the Fletchers .......... .g_ Old Arms of the Fletchers .00 . . 4-OO Arms of the Founders or Coppersmiths ........ 4gn Early Arms or Cognizance of the Founders ....... 4g9 The Bowin Spoon, 1625 ..... The Treasure Chest, 1653 ..... ' ^ Maser with Cover (i4th century), Founders' Company ... 504 Arms of the Framework Knitters or Stocking Weavers . . roc Old Arms of the Framework Knitters .... Arms of the Fruiterers, 1739 ..... Old Arms of the Fruiterers .... 5°7 Arms of the Girdlers Old Arms of the Girdlers Arms of the Glass-Sellers Common Seal of the Glass-Sellers Anglo-Saxon Glasses .... Arms of the Glaziers ... . . 516 Old Arms of the Glaziers ', • • • 51? Arms of the Glovers . • • • • 5r7 An Ancient Glove . ..... 52° Arms of the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers . Old Arms of the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers Arms of the Gunmakers . • • • 523 Homers [and Bottlers] .... 528 Old Anns of the Homers . ' 53° Cup made of Tusk of Narwhal ..... 53° Arms of the Innholders . ...... 534 Old Arms of the Innholders . * ' -537 The Tabard, South wark, in 1720 ' ..... 538 The Tabard (or Talbot), in 1841 ..... 539 The Black Boy, Chelmsford '. ..... 539 Cornelius Caton, Landlord of the WhitP T,^' v\ ' -, ..... 54° Arms of the Joiners . ' Rlchmond> Surrey (about 1750) . 541 Old Arms of the Joiners ....... 543 Carved Chair, Carpenters' Hall ' ...... 543 Octagonal Table, Carpenters' Hall * ' "546 of E,izabe,hanWood.Ca,,ingPre;erv,d a, Carper. HaU LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xiii Arms of the Leathersellers 548 Old Arms of the Leathersellers 552 Cognizance of the Leathersellers . . . 555 Leathersellers' Hall in 1842 (Interior View) 559 Arms of the Loriners 561 Old Arms of the Loriners 562 Arms of the Masons ............ 564 Old Arms of the Masons 565 Arms of the Musicians or Minstrels ......... 568 „ Needlemakers 571 „ Painter-Stainers 573 Old Arms of the Painter-Stainers . 575 Arms of the Patten Makers 582 „ Pewterers 584 Old Arms of the Pewterers 585 Arms of the Plaisterers or Pargettors ......... 590 Old Arms of the Plaisterers or Pargettors 591 Arms of the Playing- Card Makers 593 Old Arms of the Playing-Card Makers 593 Arms of the Plumbers (From Stow) 594 „ „ (From Maitland) 594 „ Poulters 598 Old Arms of the Poulters 599 Arms of the Saddlers ............ 601 Old Arms of the Saddlers 60 1 The Rich Cup - .... 613 Arms of the Scriveners ............ 613 Old Arms of the Scriveners ........... 616 Arms of the Shipwrights 619 Old Arms of the Shipwrights 621 Arms of the Spectacle-makers 623 Old Arms of the Spectacle-makers 623 Arms of the Stationers ............ 624 Old Arms of the Stationers 625 The Stationers' Barge 629 A Waterman 629 Stationers' Hall in 1670 . 631 „ in 1842. 631 Devices and Monograms of Eminent Stationers ....... 632 633 Original Common Seal, Lost in the Great Fire 635 Mark of Richard Tottell 637 „ John Day (i 548-7 1) Title-Page of Lydgate's Vertue of the Masse, Printed by Wynkyn de Worde . 638 Autographs of Eminent Stationers of the i6th Century Arms of the Tallow Chandlers . . . .641 Old Arms of the Tallow Chandlers .... Arms of the Tin-plate Workers 646 Old Arms of the Tin-plate Workers Arms of the Turners 648 Old Crest or Cognizance of the Turners ^48 Arms of the Tylers and Bricklayers . . ... • • • • 65° Old Arms of the Tylers and Bricklayers . . .• 65* LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Arms of the Upholders or Upholsters ......... 653 Old Arms of the Upholders or Upholsters 653 Arms of the Wax Chandlers ........ ... 656 Old Arms of the Wax Chandlers 658 Anns of the Weavers • .. 660 Initial Letter 661 Old Arms of the Weavers 666 Anns of the Wheelwrights 667 Arms of the Woolmen .......... 670 A King conferring a Charter 673 PREFACE. I. The Royal T- /\T"OW that every public institution begins to Commission. 1 \| think jt necessary or fit to be ready on demand with its credentials, and to be prepared to exhibit its raison d? etre, it seems to be an opportune moment for bring- ing within a convenient compass an account of all the Gilds and Livery Companies of London. In the old days, customs and bodies survived from generation to generation without inquiry and challenge ; and even within our own recollection calls for scrutiny and reform have been parried, or, if answered, have been practically inoperative. But the Royal Commission of 1880, and the returns thereby requested and obtained, marked a new era in the question, as well as in the relations between the Companies and the public. Considering that the former enjoyed, even in the face of such a Commission, great and varied facilities for evasion, and that there was no legal power of enforcement, the response on their part may be fairly described as remarkably cordial and frank. At the same time, all the returns were accom- panied by a respectful protest; in a few cases very little information was given, and in two or three no return was made. Although there was at first, especially on the part of the c.c. i PREFACE. minor associations, a strong feeling of distaste and distrust toward the Commission, it may be questioned whether the disclosures to which it led did not operate beneficially on the bodies and individuals primarily concerned. For the Report went, as a whole, to shew and establish in a conclusive manner, and under the most authoritative auspices, that the Gilds were far from justifying the strictures passed upon their management and financial economy by many influential public men, and that, whatever might have been the directing impulse or motive, their property was, at the period when the Com- mission sat, extensively utilized, not only for charitable pur- poses, as to which there have been conflicting opinions, but for purposes directly and indirectly connected with education, social science, and human progress. Commission Some surprise and dissatisfaction prevailed at the not directly operative. time, it may be remembered, because the Govern- ment did not found on the Report any proposal to Parlia- ment ; nor has any step been since taken, beyond the slight redistribution of administrative powers under the County Council system. The hostile critics of the Corporation and the Companies made a good deal of the serious loss to the Imperial revenue from the enormous amount of property held in mortmain and exempt from succession-duty in perpetuity, as well as of the large fees paid to members of the Courts for attendances in the case of a few of the wealthier Gilds. There was also a contention, that the Companies were inde- pendent of the Corporation, and were, at least no longer, what they nominally or ostensibly professed to be— representatives, guardians, and promoters of various trades and callings. The Corporate The charge, which almost amounted to a re- proach, that by their constitutions they intercepted large sum, which in ordinary cases would be available at certain intervals for succession-duty, and thus inflicted a wrong PREFACE. on the general community, has been met since 1884 by the CORPORATE TAX of five per cent., which assesses these bodies on a basis so calculated that they pay their quota to the revenue in the same manner as ordinary individuals. Of course they were expressly entitled under their charters to hold in mort- main ; but when other modes of taxing them had become incompatible with our laws, and antagonistic to public opinion, it seemed desirable, no doubt, to devise some fresh expedient for disencumbering them, if only of a percentage of their incomes. The corporate tax yields the Exchequer many thousands a year. The plea, after all, can only apply to their corporate property, since their trust estates are purely eleemosynary ; and the argument appears to possess all the less validity, that a fair proportion of the annual receipts pass to the members, and indirectly become liable to taxation, while, if it were not so, it is within the competence of. the Companies at any time to dissolve themselves as regards their corporate possessions and divide the assets. Whether an equitable apportionment of the funds is made among the several grades is a question, again, for the Gilds themselves; but the complaint that extravagant amounts are voted to the Courts may be met by pointing out that the greater the output in this or any other direction the greater is the presumed gain» to the imperial exchequer from normal property-tax. The Common Two other points deserve to be noticed. The Hall. Trust . , i and Corporate Companies and the Corporation, as the matter nas StaabSieS.epar" stood time out of mind, are intimately and insepa- rably bound up together by the usage of the Common Hall and otherwise ; and, secondly, it has been established on the highest authority, that the alienation of their Trust Estates would not affect their integrity or their title to their acquired and absolute property, while it might in some leading instances form a source of advantage to them and of loss to the public. PREFACE. It is not requisite to enter into the question of object of foun- . . dation. the diversity of object or motive which professedly led these bodies to make common cause; but, confining our- selves to those of native origin, which established themselves within the City of London from the twelfth century down- ward, we see that the main ostensible justification for their sufferance was, not trade, but charity and alms ; and they owed their freedom from molestation during the earlier stages to their comparative insignificance, politically and financially, and to their municipal franchises, until, when their resources expanded, and their pretensions grew respondent, a prescrip- tive title and a full purse befriended and preserved them. This middle period was the season of ripening investments in land and of active connexion with manufacture and com- merce, culminating in widespread ruin, attendant upon the Civil War, the troubles in Ireland, and the Great Fire ; and the modern annals of the surviving Companies tell a story of abandonment of old mercantile traditions in the face of changed times and of a return, but on a basis commensurate with immensely augmented power for good, to that benevolent and religious mission which first procured them toleration and power. c^mr^Son These instituti°ns may be fairly considered as having taken a fresh lease of their existence, and they mainly owe the renewal of political life to their own foresight, energy, and munificence. We know that it is a common error to suppose that an enormous proportion of their revenues is consumed in entertainments, and that civic 5 are nothing but phenomenal spectacles of gourmandisc^ the first place, the amount spent on them is relatively d°ne t0 these ^^ bV ^o™' »d indiscreet o Tell £ ^ ,C 'T °f thC latC SUFVey°r to one of the ««* Companies, who S lhat hC th°Ught the>' sPent a11 their monev in eating and PREFACE. small ; and, further, they are almost the only survivals of ancient English hospitality. So far from being limited to the municipal bodies themselves, there is scarcely a member of English society of any recognised status who is not on the rota of invited guests. The Companies have reason, we think, to consider that the report of the Royal Commission was decidedly advantageous to them, in shielding their independence and property from the extreme reformers in the Liberal ranks in Parliament, who, it must be within recollection, openly spoke of the propriety of a complete reorganization, involving the virtual extinction of the original bodies. Danger This danger has been averted, in the first place averted by disclosure. by the evidence collected in 1880 and following years ; and, secondly, by the proofs which so many of the Companies continue of their own accord to evince of their lively and intelligent interest in the cause of culture and in the welfare of the community. A dispassionate estimate of the position, as it now stands, with the Companies as trustees de jure or de facto of very large charitable funds, may lead to the impression, or even the deliberate belief, that, if the estates were taken over by the Government, no appreciable gain would accrue to the existing or any other beneficiaries ; and assuredly it is the clear and urgent interest of the civic bodies in possession to work more and more in the direction of justifying sympathy and support on their behalf. It should be always borne in mind, besides, that we have here a case in which the burden of proof lies exclusively on the shoulders of the reformer. We are of opinion that the Companies, and the Corpora- tion itself, are infinitely more secure from molestation at this moment than they were ten years ago. Their best, if not their sole, policy is to march abreast with the times ; and no Govern- PREFACE. ment in the future will venture to approach Parliament with a proposal for a readjustment of their revenues. Moreover, we apprehend the best friends of the City and its venerable customs and privileges to be on our side, when we assert that, had the bulk of the Companies stood on their strict legal rights, and refused disclosure, the position of the entire body would ere this have become very critical. A judicious and graceful deference to public opinion has been their best security ; as, in a converse way, it was said of Queen Elizabeth, that her greatest art as a ruler lay in knowing when and where to yield. By studying contemporary feelings and wants, the municipality in all its length and breadth may, and will, continue to prosper ; but by a misinterpretation of its relationship to the State it would incur a danger not to be pos- sibly over-rated. No earthly power—not even Lord Salisbury's omnipotent Upper Chamber — could save the Corporation and allied bodies from destruction, , if they should leave the path which most of them are treading, and wherein their true sal- vation lies. Agitation for Some of our public men in and out of Parlia- disendow- ment. ment have propounded and agitated the desirability of taking back the City charters, and appropriating the funds of the Corporation and Companies, on utilitarian grounds ; and there has been, and indeed is, a fear that, if a dissolution should impart to the legislature a more pronounced democratic character and feeling, and a Government pledged to a Socialist policy should be installed in office, the ancient and time-honoured constitution of the City of London would be among the earliest objects of attention and attack. Civic bodies We do not hold this view to be well-founded, Renaeraaiblseociai because the very education which the City has from the outset contributed to foster, and of which in its broader and higher forms it is one of the most zealous and PREFACE. munificent promoters, will gradually and steadily raise up a vast democratic community, inimical, it may be, on the one hand, to the retention of many abuses still lingering among us, but, on the other, adverse to the disappearance of institutions which have learned to throw down their roots deep into the popular sympathy, and to identify themselves with some of the most important and costly improvements of recent days. Nor are we to forget that the Municipality of London at large is a most potential and unique factor in knitting together the classes, and in preserving from decay and oblivion the ancient hospitality of our kings. The seat and centre of princely bounty have been transferred from Whitehall to Guildhall. The civic banquets were anciently and originally analogous to those of the monarch, and were only held at fixed seasons, the interval being marked by a more frugal domestic economy and a more sparing diet than at present prevails among those attached to the Gilds. The feast was at one period a purely exceptional event, and was the most pleasant of the bonds of fellowship which connected trades, classes, and families. The city and lt has been most decisivel7 shown to what a the Peerage. great extent our ennobled families derived their extraction and the means of acquiring and maintaining their honours from the City. A list of those whose origin was municipal and mercantile embraces some of the most distin- guished names in the peerage ; and to those who have not been led to study this aspect of the matter it is apt to be a source of surprise when they discover how the Corporation and Gilds have formed an immemorial link between com- mercial life and the aristocracy. The pages of the Remembrancia testify to the solicitude of almost all classes to acquire a standing in the City by mem- bership of one of the Gilds or by freedom of the Municipality itself. Letters of application from the king, nobility, and other PREFACE. personages of station and influence, to the Lord Mayor flowed in without interruption at one period. Sometimes the request was granted ; at other times regret was expressed at the inability to comply, from the absence of vacancies or an analogous plea. Gain of the We hardly know how deeply and how repeatedly from'^unTdpai our aristocracy has been indebted for its mainte- aiiiances. nance and renewal to the robust and energetic life, and the pecuniary subsidies, of the City. The wealth of the early London merchant was tolerably amerced by the Crown under irresistible pressure ; but through two channels of a different class immense strength was imparted to the Upper Chamber during some centuries : firstly, by the elevation of citizens to the peerage ; and, secondly, by the espousal of their daughters to noblemen. Of the six daughters of Sir William Cockaine, Lord Mayor of London in 1619, all mar- ried peers or their immediate kindred. The dismemberment of the City Gilds, and confiscation of their estates, must appear on deliberate reflection almost an impossibility, when we consider that such a proceeding would shake the basis of the entire corporate structure, and would reduce to inanition a feature of English political and social life which has grown up with us, and forms no mean part of our constitutional fabric and our historical traditions. 2> The Livei7 Companies of London are, in Pan and Pai"Cel °f a £raild municiPal London life, machinery, which is indivisible, and ought to be indissoluble. It is not only in this case that the common plea, quieta non movere, may be urged, but, as we have men- tioned, a very grave question must arise under present condi- tions, whether these organizations, as they are now constituted on an improved basis and to a considerable extent in harmony with the views of the Imperial executive, are not preferable PREFACE. media for carrying out the undertakings and responsibilities which they silently and practically recognise as appertaining and essential to their existence. They are emphatically appurtenances of the City. Their property, their associations, and their centres are equally within the municipal frontier. But there is between them and a large class of men, whose occupations and interests lie in the same narrow area, the broadest and clearest dividing line. With the modern school of speculative enterprise, so often tainted by dishonour, the Gilds have neither kinship nor sym- pathy ; and this may be predicated, perhaps, with peculiar force of the greater ones, which not only hold themselves aloof from dubious principles and undertakings, but exclude from their fellowship and their table thousands of individuals who are conspicuous figures in London commercial life. These two types are like two streams, which flow side by side, and do not mingle. General Speaking generally, and stating the case broadly question. and fairly, the City Gilds offer themselves to our notice and criticism as communities which started under colour of being, above all things, eleemosynary in their constitution and spirit, yet which were, at the same time, essentially mer- cantile in their constituent parts and corporate feeling. Their religious and charitable programme recommended them, in the eyes of pious or benevolent testators, as the most appropriate and secure trustees or recipients of legacies, large or small ; and for centuries, while they dispensed alms and relief pur- suantly to their professions and to the terms of bequests, they amassed wealth by commerce, and acquired an enorpious property in reserve at inconsiderable cost. Their rise in finan- cial and political importance made the ratification of their acts and status by our kings little more than a question of toll. It was a compact between the Crown and these associations 10 PREFACE. for their mutual advantage. The unlimited nature of the royal prerogative left out of account the prospective or even the current interests of the general community ; nor was it humanly possible to foresee the progressive advance in the value of metropolitan land and sites, which confers on the City Com- panies, in spite of the most serious and repeated misfortunes, their actual vantage-ground. The treaties made in former days were, after all, agreeable to contemporary policy, custom, and convenience. A judicial consideration of the relationship of the City Gilds to the general community, and of their public obliga- tion in respect of a revision of their constitution, leaves us with a very narrow argument and a very poor one, if it should hap- pen to be our cue or our mission to advocate such a change. Indeed, when we see that it can only be a question of the corporate income, since of the trusts the Companies are mere unpaid administrators at a pecuniary sacrifice, and that of this private revenue a very large quota is annually devoted to the augmentation or extension of trusts, it is difficult to know on what ground a new scheme could be introduced and defended ; for all individual opinions as to the modes in which the Com- panies think fit to bestow their money are really irrelevant and futile from an official and statutory point of view. It has to be ever borne in mind that the Companies are in lawful possession, and that the burden of proof lies with others ; and no Parlia- ment which is likely to sit at Westminster would or could, in the face of the most positive evidence as to the indefeasible character of the Companies' non-trust property, listen to any factious cry for confiscation under the cloak of reform, even assuming that the system of management could be shown to be in some respects defective or unsatisfactory. A word with With h°w much greater force the argument which has been more than once brought into employment FREFACE. against the Corporation and the Gilds applies to those members of both Houses of Parliament to whose inspiration, or at any rate, to the concurrence of many of whom, the Royal Commis- sion was due ! These noblemen and gentlemen, in such cases as are most noteworthy, acquired their property under circum- stances precisely analogous to those which placed the civic bodies in possession of theirs. In both instances the pecuniary value was comparatively, if not absolutely, trifling at and long after the date of entrance upon it ; and in both cases the national industry and prosperity made it and them what it is, and what they are. The difference occurs, when we compare the stewardship of the City with that of the great capitalists and owners in Parliament. "Physician, heal thyself !" Let a Royal Commission issue to report to the nation upon the property of the Dukes of Westminster, Bedford, and Portland, the Marquis Camden, Earl Cadogan, Lord Portman, and a few more. For if redistribution is to be granted, it must be granted all round. Adaptation to The times have changed, and the Corporation of circumstances. London, with all that is attached to it and intercon- nected with its life, has perceived the need of moving forward, as those who stand still in an advancing crowd are liable to be trodden down and left behind. But the principle of admission to the Gilds by purchase had already caused those bodies to assume a modified complexion, and had strengthened their hands by the admixture of foreign blood, so to speak, and by the broadening of their constitutions. For Parliament, in dealing with them, began to find that it had to reckon upon the opposition of a large number of influential persons, many of them members of one or other of the Chambers ; and even the practice of enrolling honorary Gildsmen in consideration of their literary, artistic, or royal pretensions, operated to a certain extent in a similar way, in lending an atmosphere to 1 2 PREFACE. the ancient rdgime, and identifying it with the existing age and with general society. The City scored prodigiously when it threw aside its invisible mantle and ceased to be altogether a close borough. This, if we may be permitted to say so, is likely to prove the safety-valve of the Corporation and the Companies. The less mysterious and exclusive they shew themselves, the greater will be their prosperity and longevity. Such a policy will be the best barrier against Socialism. Public opinion should be cultivated and welcomed by the Companies in the time before us, as the sweet air, which will alone keep them green and flourishing. There is always the danger, where information is withheld, of something more than the truth being suspected, and of a sentiment of distrust and resentment being employed by a party or a clique for their own particular purposes. A liberal policy and a frank and open hand are the clear safeguards of these institutions hereafter. II. Conditions 3- The period within which the majority of the Tn°flUuendngd Gilds nad their first rise was one in which protec- estabiishment. tjon and companionship were apt to be eminently conducive to the successful pursuit and development of com- merce. In an imperfectly organized society, and with the authority of the Crown far from thoroughly consolidated, union and co-operation among men of the same calling were great sources of security ; and these fraternities, existing, as we find, in an unofficial state long before they obtained recognition and rank as chartered bodies, enjoyed the means of affording each other mutual assistance and support, more especially where, as was usually the case, their hands were still further strengthened by the accession of persons of standing, who PREFACE. were not craftsmen, but sought membership on independent grounds. Germ of the The rudimentary nucleus or germ of the Gilds Gilds. was undoubtedly that principle of the old law, which exacted a guarantee for his good behaviour from every free- man on the attainment of his fourteenth year, or from his guardians, and which seemed to necessitate, not only for the payment of this geld, but for any contingencies arising out of apprenticeship or servitude, the formation and maintenance of a common purse. Its The graduated constitution of the Gild was an constitution. almost necessary corollary of its mode of develop- ment. Its mercantile and adventurous attributes were a super- structure on its primitive object and function as an industrial union and safeguard. It happened, no doubt, in this, as in numerous other instances, that the original promoters of the idea in London did not entertain any notion of overstepping the limits at first laid down, and would have viewed with excessive surprise the advance beyond them which had been made even in the time of the Edwards (1272-1377), when the aristocratic element, in the form of the municipal dignitary and capitalist, had already assumed supreme control over the movement, and converted what was in its inception a scheme of humble pretensions and narrow scope into a prominent constitutional feature and an important agent in the financial transactions of the realm. Protectionist Throughout the ordinances and regulations spirit. framed by or for the various Companies, it can be no source of astonishment to meet with a consistent and uncompromising protectionist spirit. This was the policy and feeling on the part of all traders in former days, and has not even yet lost its weight in England, while on the Continent and in the United States it survives in undiminished force and J4 PREFACE. repute. As the eye runs through the proclamations, acts of Parliament, and the bye-laws of the Gilds themselves, it is one unvarying cry of exclusion of the foreign competitor or of his admittance at a disadvantage, which we encounter ; and we believe that, if the Government of the present day would go with it, the City is sufficiently conservative to return, in cer- tain respects and to some extent, to the old-fashioned platform. But the law of supply and demand is among ourselves supreme, and it merely resolves itself into the dual question of production and consumption. The time may come, however, when education will teach the community something in this direction, and when the low-priced continental fabrics of all kinds will not find so free a sale. They represent all that is unwholesome and false in social and commercial economy. The rigorous protectionist principle, however, which governed these associations, and which in the course of centuries was temporarily relaxed only under urgent or special circumstances, rendered such an alliance and brotherhood among the followers of the same calling, as would at present prove a hindrance and an anachronism, expedient and advantageous from every point of view. Causes condu- The need for approximation and fellowship, which cive to asso- ciation, appear in almost all cases to have preceded the prayer for a charter, naturally followed the absence of ready means of intercourse with distant persons and places and with each other in times of imperfect and rudimentary legislation, scanty appliances of all kinds, and general illiteracy ; and these formed the causes of a resort to common, in preference to personal, action. Again, membership of a Gild produced a natural bond of affection and confidence on the part of each man toward his fellows ; and where there were no representatives he turned, as a matter of course, to the corporate and perpetual institution PREFACE. whereto he had belonged during life, and perhaps his father before him, and saw in it the means of transmitting his name and securing the application of his property to its appointed objects. its benefits. The tie thus created gave facilities, keenly appre- ciable in those days, for commercial and private intercourse ; and when enfranchisement and endowment were gradually conferred on the Companies, there was a tolerably efficient machinery for keeping at a distance the domestic, and still more the foreign, interloper. The leagues or trades' unions were offensive as well as defensive, and for a long season acted their part, and operated beneficially. Their original role is mere matter of history. Our country has left them in this sense behind, and has laid down other lines for all of us. The rest of the world retains its old traditions, and has to consider whether it will hereafter follow our leadership. But the Gilds stand on an equally solid, though on a different, basis as part of our polity and life ; and the trades have found other methods of promoting their interests and vindi- cating their pretensions. Baiancin The means °f self-defence which this species of drawbacks. combination supplied were of course at the best very inadequate to resist forcible encroachment and spoliation. Union in some shape was indispensable from causes which have been explained ; and it followed that, in unsettled times under an arbitrary monarchical government, the very machinery and fellowship which on so many accounts proved a source of strength and success was apt, at critical conjunctures, to prove an element of danger and weakness. When the Crown learned the easy lesson of treating the Gilds as milch kine, bodies were found to be more vulnerable than individuals ; and our kings were wholly exempt from scruple when money was required, and unblushingly ignored the charters which they or their i6 PREFACE. lawful predecessors had granted, and for which pecuniary con- sideration had been obtained. No pirate or sharper was more callous, more mean, and more cruel than sacred majesties of bygone days ; and among them the " Merry Monarch" and his brother may be probably regarded as having borne the bell. The two chief impediments to the progress and welfare of the Gilds, as the trade and wealth of the country developed in the time of Elizabeth, were indeed the extortions of the Crown and Court, in the shape of benevolences, loans, and disbursements for unprofitable speculations, on the one hand, and on the other the system of patents and monopolies, which, during the rule of the heartless, profligate, and venal Stuarts, crippled legiti- mate commerce. No form or channel of plunder escaped the harpies who surrounded the throne, and who usually farmed to others their share of the prey. Foreign source 4- The rise of a vast number of civic and provincial our Gilds, associations, with their subsequent partial evolution into chartered Gilds, was probably due to continental influence and example, more particularly to the precedents set in the Low Countries and in Italy, with which the relationship of our English traders was, from a very remote epoch, constant and extensive. With a view to the establishment of commercial industries and entrepots, involving unavoidable and large pecu- niary risk, the primary need of union and protection was very soon discerned. The merchants, who transacted their affairs in what was then the business centre, the neighbourhood of Thames Street and East Cheap, were in many cases not even denizens, but French, Italian, Dutch, or German settlers, Jews included, among us ; and those who were English by birthright claimed by the nature of their employments an exemption from the various feudal services imposed on ordinary civilians in the Middle Ages. They therefore necessarily clustered in those PREFACE. places which were suitable, at once by position and privileges, to their wants and callings, and they thus constituted through- out the free ports of the kingdom a vast community, independent of military and other kindred obligations, and internally go- verned by their own ordinances. The ancient An interesting and profitable subject for investi- trading Com- panies, gation and study would be the relationship between the Gilds, at and long after their commencement, and those other commercial unions which monopolized the import and export trades, and constituted an indispensable adjunct to the manufacturers and salesmen at home. All these associations, such as the Easterlings of the so-called Steelyard in Thames Street, the Hanse colony in Bishopsgate, the Merchants of the Staple, the Merchants Adventurers, and others which we have elsewhere enumerated, had their headquarters in the heart of the City proper. The vicinity of the river side was a great centre of activity ; Billingsgate is mentioned as far back as 1299 as a point whence goods were shipped abroad ; Queen- hithe was another lading and landing stage ; and it was doubt- less through the foreign and English mercantile communities, whose vessels touched at all then known or frequented ports, that the London Gilds, as a rule, engaged in speculative enter- prises, rather than deal in their own bottoms with distant countries. A knowledge of foreign navigation and languages conferred in this respect an advantage on the Easterlings and their successors, who were formerly, to a large extent, the proprietors of the "petty traffickers" and " rich burghers of the flood." London life. The more special student of this one side or aspect of earlier London life rises from his task with a very powerful impression of the vast multiplicity and complication of inter- ests, which in bygone days perpetually engaged the attention of the municipal government, and rendered the conduct of public c.c. j 8 PREFACE. affairs infinitely more onerous and delicate than at present, when changes in the law, in the structural condition of the metropolis, and in the habits of the people, have done so much to improve and simplify the working machinery, and of course to lighten the responsibilities of the Corporation. The pulse of London cannot have beaten less quickly and proudly, but it was differently regulated. A new era in With the reign of Edward III. (1327-1377) a our commer- cial history. very marked impulse was given to our commerce, and the necessity for organizing on a clearer and firmer basis the existing trading fraternities followed as an inevitable con- sequence. Between the opening and close of that long reign an immense improvement and expansion were witnessed in all branches of manufacture and industry. Foreign wars Jt js not difficult tO SCC how the HSC and beneficial to the Gilds. consolidation of the Gilds, as part of a great municipal system, were largely aided by the feebleness of the Crown as a central executive authority, arising, through the reigns of the Plantagenet kings, from their constant habit of changing their headquarters, and from their long series of foreign wars. Enfranchise- The successive enfranchisement of the trades of m^n°df0*e London, with the concession in due course of in- speximus or new charters, is found to run parallel with the chronic financial embarrassment of the Crown through misgovernment or through lavish expenditure on military equip- ments ; and the City became, and remained during centuries, when all other channels had failed, the great resource of monarchs in straits. From a very early date, the Corporation and Gilds adopted the principle of receiving security in some shape or other for money lent or given ; and it would be an enormous total, if we could put down on paper the aggregate cost to London from first to last of its privileges and property. PREFACE. 1 9 Obscurity of All such associations as those which we are con- ongm. sidering and describing have a natural difficulty in tracing their primary starting-time and the exact circumstances which first gave them distinct form and being. Their obscurity and insignificance during the earlier stages of development, and their peaceful employment within a limited area, help to account for the absence of records of their transactions and progress, till they arise to our notice as institutions pro- fessedly of lengthened standing and prescriptive rank. Their establishment "out of memory" was almost invariably accepted as a ground for the eventual concession of a charter or letters patent ; the expression signified the inability of the applicants to adduce precise legal evidence of their title beyond common tradition and report, the very vagueness of which had its virtue. Constitution 5- The normal constitution of a Livery Gild of the Gild. embraces a Master, Wardens, a Court of Assist- ants, a Livery, and the general body of Freemen. To them used to be added the Apprentices, making altogether six grades. The MASTER was originally nothing more than the Master or Upper Warden ; and the Fishmongers and Goldsmiths still retain this notion or principle, and term their chief executive officer Prime Warden. The Cooks' charter gave them two masters. The Vintners long remained without one, and were governed by four Wardens : the Upper and Junior, the Renter and the Swan, Wardens. Some Companies have only three, some only two, of these functionaries. The ASSISTANTS derive their appellation from their original and existing duty as an auxiliary committee to co-operate with the Wardens. The LIVERY is so called from the ancient practice of peri- odical delivery of clothing to this body. In some cases the junior members are called Bachelors. 2O PREFACE. The The general or, as they are designated in the Yeomanry. Qothworkers' Gild, diffusive body of freemen are otherwise known as the Yeomanry or Commonalty, and occasionally succeeded in putting sufficient pressure on the Court to obtain independent Wardens for the management of all minor points of detail and discipline. But the experiment was rarely of long duration. Although the freedom or yeomanry in many cases formed in course of time a numerous body, and preponderated in extent over the rest of the Gild, it was in its practical origin, if not in the spirit of the movement, an outlying portion of the semi- religious, semi-commercial congregation, not only destitute of executive authority, but unentitled to vesture ; and the express mention in several of the charters and in all the Ordinances of these brotherhoods of the livery of clothing, and the emphasis laid on its pattern and colours, with the very particular reference to it in an ancient chronicle of the reign of Edward II. as marking an era in the history and progress of the Gilds, satisfy us that it was regarded by the leading members alike as a distinctive emblem and as a constitutional boundary. The apparel was an article of faith and a token of caste ; it at once served as an element of union and a medium of control. Those outside the clothing might by election be lifted up into it, but the recruiting process was slow and limited ; and we see that in some of the larger Companies the yeomanry became so much an independent class, that they sought to have their own separate administrative officers, and sometimes proved so grave a source of inconvenience and discomfort to their oli- garchical superiors, that the latter mooted the expediency of a thorough and permanent severance. S°their°f These remarks may amount to another mode of discontent. saying that at a very early stage in the annals and career of the Gilds an attentive observer might have detected PREFACE. 2 1 an inherent tendency on their part to diverge from their original gospel and role, and, whereas the incidence of apprenticeship was the very essence and foundation of their being, to develop a cliental and charitable principle into a sub-municipal auto- cracy, and to spurn, when its support was no longer needed, the ladder by which they had climbed to power. A plea for the At the same time we must keep in sight the governing bodies. growing changes in social feeling and mercantile life, which tended, as years passed, to loosen the old bond between the class to which the upper sections of the Gilds belonged and that from which the yeomanry sprang ; and the progress of legislation, following the impulse of more modern thought, favoured the revolt of the inferior and less privileged branches of each of these Companies from a type of jurisdiction, which was apt to survive longer among such as exercised than among such as were asked to obey it. Patrimony Again, the admittance of females or sisters to disadvanta- ^ freecjom ancj to succession by patrimony, had geous to the J *- yeomanry. a natural tendency to deprive of its faculty of coherence and organization a body incessantly and progres- sively increasing by the ordinary law of nature, and to trans- form the yeomanry of both sexes into a body of such incalcu- lable dimensions, that the Company itself was unable to furnish exact figures. It is not extraordinary that an element in the constitution, so incompact and unwieldy, parted with its signi- ficance and weight, and resolved itself into a passive object of nominal membership and charitable relief. The 6. The letters patent, licences, and charters Ordinances. obtained by the Gilds were as between them and the Crown. But, independently of them, for the due control of their internal affairs and the protection of their class or corporate interests, Ordinances invariably followed at a shorter 22 PREFACE. or longer interval, and were periodically renewed. These regulations were originally framed by the Associations on their own authority ; but we shall see that this practice grew in- convenient and invidious, owing to clauses being inserted contrary to the public welfare, and that the sanction of the Court of Aldermen was made imperative. This precaution, however, notwithstanding, several statutes, commencing with 1 5 Henry VI., restrained the governing bodies under penalties from making any rules in diminution of the royal preroga- tive or against the common profit of the people. Licences in ^he exempti°n from the Statute of Mortmain, which forms a clause, in the majority of instances, in the charters, and variously occurs with and without a limit, or with a progressive power in successive grants, could only apply to freehold lands not subject to military service ; but the prin- cipal bequests or devises of this character occurred at a period when the feudal system had been relaxed, the early acquisitions being almost exclusively within the confines of the City, and being independent of such obligations. The Gilds were dis- qualified from taking copyholds, or even customary freeholds, where there was a reserved rent of any kind, although at the Reformation the Crown in some cases sold or handed back their property to these Corporations at precisely such a rent over and above the purchase-money. On the other hand, the Colet estate at Stepney, being copyhold, the heirs successfully contested the title of the Mercers to it ; and it was ultimately re-conveyed to the Company by a circuitous process and, no doubt, at considerable expense. The Power The power of Search, which was an almost in- variable incidence of the grant of Ordinances even to an unchartered brotherhood, though of questionable legality, led, in cases of discovery of improper practices, to the pre- sentment of the offence by the overseers to the Mayor's Court, PREFACE. and to the issue of a summons to attend in answer. The faculty did not generally extend farther than the freedom, but in a few exceptional cases it was general ; while, on the con- trary, some of the Companies never possessed it in any measure. It naturally differed in its scope according to the residential and other features of the craft ; but it was, as may be readily conceived, an outgrowth from the primitive and long-continued practice of operatives carrying on their work within a certain radius in their own homes, as we have seen in our time the weavers do both in London and the provinces. The visiting duties or surveillance of the Wardens of the Gild were superseded, when home-labour gave place by degrees to factories and sheds. Feudalism. The exoneration from ordinary feudal services was qualified and more than balanced by various forms of commuta- tion, both municipal and imperial. The Plantagenets, to a certain extent, and after them in heavier measure the Tudors and Stuarts, considered that the Corporation and Companies were banks, on which they might draw at will. It was possible, while the system prevailed, to enforce the performance of cer- tain duties as an equivalent for the tenure of property ; but the City, which claimed the right of holding in free burgage, was viewed, as the wealth of its denizens became conspicuous, as a collateral factor of special value in another direction, and as peculiarly amenable to pressure from the immense stake which it held under the sufferance of an arbitrary monarchy. The municipality and its adjuncts, however, if they did not discharge the duties of subjects resident outside the boundaries in a direct and personal manner, did not escape even this kind of tribute ; for it was levied in the shape of periodical requisi- tions from the sovereign for the equipment and support of a quota of soldiers, and even of ships and seamen, on all emer- gencies. At home, so to speak, in addition to normal burdens, 24 PREFACE. the Gilds were taxed from a very remote date for the purpose of laying up stores of grain against a bad harvest, and of husbanding coal between Lady Day and Michaelmas, in order to re-sell it to the poor of the City at a loss ; while several, if not all, had calls made upon them to take their turns in providing the armed watches for the respective gates. The Ironmongers and others, as we shall find, maintained their own armoury chiefly on this account. III. The word The or^inary orthography of the term mystery misteiy. ^ ca]clllated to favour an erroneous impression on the part of those who do not remember that the true word is mistery, the old French maistre and maistrie having been translated indifferently into English master and mister, mastery or mistery. Mistery, mester, maistrie, are all closely allied to mestier or mttier, a trade. These trading unions were in fact expert craftsmen, and were totally distinct from the mysteries of the ancients and of the mediaeval period. The enrolment of them under the tutelary patronage of the Saviour, the Virgin, or a saint, was a common form of sanction and security from the earliest period, and one which has not yet, in the eyes of some, parted with its significance. Commercial and religious life was bound up together in a far greater degree among our forefathers ; and it was unusual to undertake transactions or to decide on any measure without the presumed approbation of the Unseen. We note how vestiges of this feeling linger in the municipal habit of assembling in prayer prior to certain electoral ceremonies. Apparel. The distinctive apparel of the Gilds, to which Chaucer refers in a familiar passage, was a symbolism pic- turesquely characteristic of the old time, when all arrangements PREFACE. were in keeping with the conservative sentiment discernible throughout the entire costume of these commercial brother- hoods. The dress formed part of the prevailing spirit of free- masonry, which dictated a rigid adherence to external insignia as much as to other prescribed or customary usages. A vintner did not presume to wear the livery of a grocer, or a freeman of a warden, any more than either ventured to infringe the ordinances of his craft, or to cross the lines of his charter. The vesture was part of the constitution of the Gild, the out- ward and visible sign of membership and graduated dignity ; nor, when we find two of these Corporations exchanging vestures on special occasions and to a limited extent, was it other than a token of that fraternal reciprocity and affection which knit yet more closely the bond between these societies by one of the most sacred of trusts and most exalted of privi- leges, a community of garb ? The language of many ancient documents corroborates the view that the mere uniformity of garb or vesture which con- ferred on the Gilds the designation of Livery Companies may be taken to have an underlying religious significance, and to have been, perhaps unconsciously and intuitively, adopted in imitation of the practice of monastic bodies, with the modifica- tion suitable to groups of laymen dedicating themselves only in part to the service of God. At the same time, it is more than doubtful whether in their inception the Companies, as voluntary societies, adopted such a method of distinguishing themselves from the ordinary community and from each other. In the original grants there is no reference to them under the style of Livery Companies ; but it is on record that the practice of attiring themselves similarly began to gain favour even so far back as the reign of Edward II. Such external symbols of identity have become superfluous; yet the state of society and education once and long rendered them essential. 26 PREFACE. When the first or initial stage had been reached Amalgamating movement. anc[ completed by the embodiment of the industrial world of London City under certain divisions, each governed and fortified by its own charter or bye-laws, or both, a second process is found to have gradually matured and accrued, by which the several branches of a department of business were consolidated in one great executive and municipal integer, and the conduct of the affairs was at once rendered less costly and more effective. Thus the Armourers knit together in a single fraternity the minor contributory crafts, such as the Bladesmiths on the one hand and on the other the Braziers and Potters ; the Shearmen and Fullers reconstituted themselves under the name of Cloth- workers ; the Marblers and Lapidaries on the one hand and the Paviours on the other were lost in the Masons ; the Sheathers, if not the Furbishers, became incorporated with the Cutlers, the Spurriers with the Loriners, the Silkmen with the Mercers, the Tawyers and White Tawyers with the Skinners or Curriers, the Stringers with the Bowyers ; while the Drapers or Haberdashers took over, so to speak, the Hosiers, Hatters, Cappers, and Brace-makers. The Grocers gradually absorbed, so far as independent concerted action went, the group of subsidiary interconnected industries, originally represented and protected by the Pepperers, the Spicers, the Soap-makers, the Starch-makers, the Cheese and Butter-mongers, the Sugar- bakers, and the Druggists. The last severed themselves in 1617 under the title of Apothecaries, and during a long period monopolized the trade in tea, coffee, and other dear speciali- ties, as they continued in certain places abroad to do down to a recent date. But of course no single craft, even in its amplified shape, undertook either the manufacture or sale of articles outside its legitimate province, except the Haberdasher and Grocer, whose shops became general emporia, even in PREFACE. Plantagenet days, for all sorts of minor miscellaneous wares, and the Upholder, who was ex officio a second-hand dealer in the earlier stage, according to the testimony of Stow. its ad vantages. The simplification and economy of management and control, where the interests concerned were sufficiently cognate to be capable of becoming or being made common, naturally recommended themselves to communities forced to stand for ever on their defence, and exposed to all kinds of vexatious requisitions and embarrassing ordinances. Experience must have shown them their chronic liability, under an arbitrary government and a somewhat vacillating and timid municipal system, to oppression, impoverishment, and even ruin, and the urgent need for consolidation and unity. incorporation. The final consummation was the evolutionary deve- lopment of limited survivals into corporate bodies, more or less removed from their primitive functions and traditions by the force of unforeseen circumstances, which launched them on a new career, as beneficiaries in fee or trust under numberless wills, as well as by a happy concurrence of events, and which left it optional on their part whether they would sever them- selves from their ancient callings and employments or otherwise. The majority, as we know, sooner or later elected to dissolve old ties, and to enter upon a new life, in which the wealth, fortuitously accumulated by vast internal changes in a very narrow area, and by judicious husbandry, experienced redistri- bution in a variety of ways, mainly equitable and benevolent. A few of the Gilds, on the contrary, and most notably the Cloth- workers, have not deserted their former associations, and appropriate princely sums to the advancement of the industry over which they once exclusively presided. This Company stands in the peculiarly honourable and special position of having, irrespectively of its own direct pecuniary interests, stepped forward as the patron and friend of the Yorkshire 2g PREFACE. wool and cloth trade, rather than as having merely fostered it from local inducements. The ulster 7- Circumstances of a political character in fact Plantation. combined, after a while, to impart to these civic organizations far more important functions than those with which they at the outset charged themselves. For not only the spirit of commercial and maritime adventure afforded scope for the employment of capital, but the transfers of landed estates, especially in the north of Ireland, in Londonderry and Coleraine, during the reign of James I., formed an. outlet for money and a field for speculation which proved in the end fairly satisfactory, but lay long dormant and unprofitable. Origin of the As far back as 1608, James I. and his advisers, having to deal with the question of settling or colonizing the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Coleraine, Done- gal, Fermanagh, and Cavan, which formed the theatre in the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth of a rebellion against the English Crown on the part of certain prominent and powerful Irish noblemen or chieftains, had published a schedule of orders and conditions to be observed by the undertakers, as well as a statement of the nature of the property to be allotted. The pamphlet was for general circulation, and originally all his majesty's subjects were at liberty to enter into the scheme. Several offers were made in consequence by private persons ; but the king changed his purpose so far as to decide upon seek- ing to persuade the City of London to embrace the project, and caused a second statement to be prepared for this special purpose, under the title of " Motives and Reasons to induce the City to Undertake the Plantation in the North of Ireland." This counter-proposal was at first rejected ; but as James proved importunate, the twelve great Companies were invited to select a competent number of their most substantial members, PREFACE. 29 each choosing four persons, to deliberate on the question, and report their views to the king in writing. There was still considerable backwardness in entertaining the question ; com- mittees were formed, and visited Ireland to judge the value of the speculation on the spot ; certain interrogatories were addressed to the Lord Deputy in relation to the estimated outlay and profit ; and the end was, that on January 28, 1609-10, a preliminary contract was signed in London, and was read at Guildhall on the 3Oth. At the outset, it was arranged that the Plantation should be administered by a Governor, Deputy-governor, and twenty-four Assistants, following the lines of the Gilds ; that the Recorder and five of the Aldermen of London for the time being should be ex officio members of the court ; and that the Deputy-gover- nor and the remainder of the court should be free of the City. Change of This was the body subsequently known as the Plan. The Irish Society. Irish Society. For some time it carried on the management of the estate with funds supplied by the several Companies interested ; but there seems to have been some difficulty, which led to the transfer of the property in 1613 to the Companies and the concession of a charter. Under this fresh departure all the moneys were to be divided into twelve portions ; each Company was to represent a portion, and if so desired might associate with it one or more of the minor Companies, the interest being reckoned proportionably ; and a new survey of the lands was to be undertaken, with a view to equalizing the twelve shares as nearly as possible. For these shares the Companies drew lots. Undivided But a residue of the estate, having been pro- nounced ^not easily apportionable, was never vested in the Companies, and remained under the control of the Irish Society for their common and several benefit. Under the charter of 1613 this body received a licence to hold and grant PREFACE. lands and hereditaments, and was described as the " Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation in Ulster within the Realm of Ireland." The territory over which its jurisdiction extended was erected into a new and independent county of Londonderry. Licence in Two years later (September 30, 1615) the king, Mortmain. ^v jetters patent, granted the Society and the Companies a licence in mortmain, that the latter might be encouraged to proceed and finish the Plantation, and in future time reap some gain and benefit from their trouble and expense. Value and The lands thus transferred to the twelve Pmoney6 Livery Gilds, were estimated to produce at the time (1608-15) i,8oo/. a year. The price was 6o,ooo/. = 5,ooo/. for each subscriber, or about twenty-nine years' purchase. Revocation of The unprincipled and cowardly despotism of the Charter by _, star Chamber. Stuarts was exemplified in the decree of the Star Chamber which repudiated and annulled the charter of 1615, and necessarily crippled the power of the proprietors, until the act was rescinded as unlawful and unjust by the Long Parliament in 1641. Restoration On March 24, 1656, the grant was restored by by Cromwell. ) an(J Companies' estates were re-conveyed to them by the Society. The latter, shortly after the Restoration, was re- incorporated, with another re-grant of the property to the several feoffees (April 10, 1662). Later history. Since that time, such Companies as have not parted with them have remained in peaceful enjoyment of their possessions, which, however, have in no case been, on the whole, very advantageous or profitable, owing to the immense expenses incurred in litigation and improvements. The Merchant Taylors, who let their Irish venture go, it appears, in 1727, stood alone, we believe, in subscribine for PREFACE. one full manor and a portion of another. The Clothworkers sold their Irish property for I5o,ooo/., and the Grocers for about the same amount, redemption of tithes inclusive. The Ironmongers have quite recently parted with theirs under less advantageous conditions. The In several cases, the detachment of sub-shares Sub-shares. mac[e the original outlay less onerous to the great Companies ; but when they disposed of their possessions at a fortunate juncture, they suffered through the natural claim of the smaller contributories to participate proportionably in the advantages of the sale. Of all the Companies, even after reckoning the drawback of 4O,ooo/. paid over to the Stationers to extinguish their claim and the Girdlers' share, the Skinners seem to have succeeded best in turning the Ulster speculation to good account, judging from the increase in the rents returned in 1882. This may have arisen from the Company enjoying the benefit of having had in its members many practical surveyors, who visited the domain personally. But the Salters also found it possible and expedient to buy out the Dyers and the Saddlers for 83,ooo/., and to expend a very large sum in improvements. These, with the Mercers, are almost the only survivals of the Ulster Planta- tion as it was originally constituted and apportioned. Litigation. Owing to litigation, very little has been received by the Companies from the surplus undivided property retained in trust by the Irish Society, comprising portions of the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine, woods, fisheries, ferries, and waste. The venture, from which in some respects the Companies would have done well to have kept aloof, agreeably to their first determination, continued to afford them ground for anxiety and a constant outlet for money, until, as we have said, some of them parted with their shares under fairly auspicious conditions, and others succeeded in rendering the speculation at length PREFACE. reproductive, while at least in one instance the opportunity was missed, and the sale was effected on less favourable terms. Difference 8- We nave described these Gilds as Mutual between the Benefit associations, at first voluntary, then Gild and the Trades'Union. governed by Wardens and a code of bye-laws alike approved by the Corporation, and eventually established under the protection and control of a charter. But while they answered in some respects to the modern trades' union, in two important particulars they differed from it, inasmuch as they did not presume to regulate the hours or price of labour, and had a restricted jurisdiction over the selling scale of com- modities, in which they were interested as manufacturers or retailers. There they were bound by the law, as interpreted by acts of Parliament, by royal proclamation, or by civic usage. Wages. As regarded wages in very early times (1350), the masons, carpenters, and plaisterers appear to have stood on the same footing, and to have had from $d. to 6ci. a day, with- out food, according to the season ; the tilers earned from ^\d. to ^\d. ; and the ordinary labourer $d. This scale was laid down by the Mayor, and any one not observing it was liable to a penalty of 40^. Plurality. Originally persons followed more than one trade, or changed their line of business. In 1402, Thomas Dufhous, brewer, was admitted of the fellowship of Fishmongers, on the ground that he had long followed the latter trade, and was known for a reputable citizen. Some few years later, in 1416, Alderman Richard Merlawe, who represented that he had for some time past belonged to the two trades of ironmongery and fishmongery, and had taken livery or vesture of both crafts, now, in accordance with a new ordinance of the Mayor and Aldermen, that no one should be of more than a single fraternity, elected and prayed to be of the Fishmongers' bro- PREFACE. 33 therhood alone, and was therefore admitted to the freedom and vesture or Livery of the same. Admittance of But the practice of admitting other than mem- strangers. kers Qf ^ traje wnjcn the Company represented was of very early date, even among some of the greater Gilds ; and the persons so introduced were strangers as well as fol- lowers of different vocations. This class of freemen was practically honorary, or at all events outside the scheme ; and as this departure from the original design is shown by records to go back to the first half of the fifteenth century, we seem to be entitled to presume that a more ambitious programme and basis struck the municipal authorities as practicable and expedient, even within the Plantagenet epoch, and that from what had been first a purely commercial idea of a rather humble type evolved in process of time one of the most opu- lent, influential, and enduring political federations in the world. The Gild the The source and explanation of the moneys and thTp™orheou°sfe properties left to the Gilds to charitable uses are and Hospital. obviously to be found in the deficiency of our early municipal institutions and the absence of any system of poor relief. At the time when many of the benefactions had been devised to these fraternities, even the hospitals, such as Beth- lehem and Bartholomew's, which afterward sheltered the lower grades of vagrant and beggar, and gave them temporary aid or sustenance, were neither numerous nor efficient for the purpose ; and of accommodation and help for persons of both sexes in a somewhat more reputable sphere there was an absolute want. Reasons for The financial and social aggrandisement of many confidence -i. in it. of the Companies, and their consequent divergence from their original raison d'etre, may be readily traced to the development of a feeling on the part of citizens, and even strangers, in the old state of the laws affecting benefactions and charities, that these institutions formed the safest deposi- c.c. 3 PREFACE. tories for money left in trust or otherwise for superstitious, eleemosynary, and educational purposes. There were no bodies formerly existing, when nearly all the Gilds were successively established, so well calculated to administer and protect funds lodged in their hands for periodical distribution and specific benevolence ; and this was as much the case in the provinces as in the metropolis, and without the City as within its confines. Acquisition It was not from the amount in specie, however, property. that the Gilds derived their chief advantage, but from lands and tenements of small worth at the period, and which it required the lapse of centuries and patient endurance of successive vicissitudes and reverses to ripen into what they appear to us all in modern balance-sheets. IV. Departure We see that it is only those Companies which succeeded in removing themselves to a long dis- professions. tance from their original role as trade guarantee and protection societies, and in holding their ground in the presence and spite of all imaginable difficulties and discouragements, that remain to-day in the foremost rank. The rest have to be satisfied with a secondary position and influence ; and a few have, even within a measurable period, suffered extinction. The conditions of apprenticeship and commercial supervision, under which they first rose, have gradually undergone so organic a change, that these institutions could not possibly pre- serve much vitality or general usefulness in adhering to the primitive lines ; and it would not be difficult, of course, to point out some which depend for their survivorship on one or two modest rentals, on a scanty revenue arising from fees and fines, or even on private subscriptions. Exceptional While they yet preserved their ancient attributes, success of certain bodies, it was those bodies which ministered to the em- PREFACE. 35 bellishment of .the person and to female vanity which the most signally prospered. The Mercers, the Drapers, the Merchant Taylors, the Goldsmiths, the Cloth-workers, the Skinners, the Haberdashers survived and overcame the most stupendous re- verses, and remained possessed of great wealth. Then, again, the Grocers represent a federation of trades, most of which have always been highly remunerative, appealing to manifold daily requirements ; and finally, by way of example, the Fish- mongers, trafficking during centuries, even before they were incorporated, in an industry of a national character, when our diet was more modified than at present by religious observ- ances, found themselves, in the middle of the fourteenth century, second only to the Mereers in opulence and con- sideration. Suggested The position of such of the minor Companies Consolidation as ^Q not possess a place of meeting and business of the minor Companies. {$ sufficiently unfortunate and unsatisfactory to warrant a respectful suggestion that some concerted move- ment might be made by them for forming a federal union for official and representative purposes, and of employing a Com- mon Clerk, who should be a gentleman capable, by his train- ing, knowledge, and experience, of managing their affairs and protecting their interests. The present executive officers of a few of these smaller cor- porations form a painful and striking contrast to the urbane and straightforward attitude of the greater, and of many indeed of the less leading, Companies. These gentlemen may have nothing to communicate ; but their address is apt to foster a suspicion that they have something to conceal. Assuming that no such combination is possible, however, the next best plan will be for them to profit by the example set by the preponderating majority (at least in weight and consequence) of the Companies. PREFACE. Further 9. The decay of apprenticeship, and other funda- modification . • i IT i possible. mental changes in commercial lite and sentiment, may ultimately lead to still further modifications of the Livery Companies, and to a thorough divestment in many instances of the attributes and claims with which they began and justified their existence. Those which possess both trust and corporate estates of considerable and permanent value will resolve them- selves into virtual oligarchies of a philanthropic character, in which even the Liveries will find their influence by little and little abridged ; while such as have no estates, or property of insignificant extent, will become little more than social clubs under an old-fashioned name. Nor is it by any means impossible that the Gilds may hereafter elect to dissolve, and to divide their private possessions among the members, leaving the Imperial Government to manage the remainder at the public expense. We do not say that they would do unwisely. Suchacontin- We do not allege or imply that the Gilds would mof exter" ^ave acted more discreetly and advantageously by nai changes. popularizing their constitutions in compliance with modern ideas and demands. For the whole current of feeling and opinion has been diverted into new channels ; and their sole resource and best defence are undoubtedly to be found in the policy on which so many of them have entered, of rendering their surplus revenues applicable to existing social objects and needs on the latest lines. The City IO- A majority of the Companies have been fortunate in the ownership of freeholds in the City, which of late years have risen in value to a wholly unforeseen extent, and have not always reached their climax. This has undoubtedly been the leading element and cause of prosperity, and of the power to enjoy and maintain it by PREFACE. 37 nobly and wisely sharing it with the community by a funda- mental revision of their traditional scheme ; so that, instead of remaining in the background, and standing on their ancient rights and prescriptive claims, they, or an overwhelming majority of them, have come forward with unreserved frank- ness, and have at once disarmed public hostility and jealousy, and enlisted public confidence. Their various ^ or ^ acquisition of the greater part of their corporate possessions the Companies have been indebted either to private generosity and good fellowship or to the incessant political commotions and the vicissitudes of private fortune in earlier times. Their estates, not merely in London, but in the provinces and out of England, were fre- quently obtained in mortgage or as security, at all events, for pecuniary advances to the Crown ; and in many instances it has only been within the last half or three-quarters of a century that the expansion of value in civic property has com- pensated the Gilds, which were strong enough to wait, for long years of slender returns, unjust treatment, and calamitous reverses, and has at the same time enabled them to withstand the depression in their agricultural rents, and to keep pace with the age by constituting themselves promoters of almost every department of humanizing and elevating science. Prostration of When we regard the wholesale devastation thereof wrougnt by the Fire, the probable loss of private 1666. property by the members of Gilds, and the para- lysis of business, side by side with the ruin of the corporate estates and the absence of any system of insurance, we may entertain a grave doubt whether such crushing reverses could have been stemmed by any but bodies of loyal and united men, acting together for the common honour and welfare. Many of the less opulent fraternities probably never rallied from the blow in any appreciable measure ; even their 2 8 PREFACE. more fortunate brethren staggered under it, and felt its effects for more than a century. It fell on the City, at a point of time when that narrow area embraced well-nigh the whole wealth of the kingdom, with tenfold the force that it would at present, when our industries, our commerce, our resources, and our specie are more widely distributed ; and what dismay and disorganization a far less grave event of the same cha- racter would create to-day ! Causes of During actual centuries the destinies of many of revival. tke Q[\^s trembled in the balance ; and it was in those instances where they were strong enough to hold their ground, or rich enough to propitiate the party in power, that they outlived the bad old times, and saw themselves and their property at last, after the Revolution of 1688, comparatively out of danger. Then, when they had been so fortunate or farseeing as to secure estates in the City, came the slow but steady reaction, the flow of the tide toward prosperity and opulence which has never ebbed. Yet we must remember that they owed their salvation and well-being to commercial principles totally opposed to their own traditions and prejudices, to the overthrow of the archaic views of trade and industry in which they had had their first rise and a long career of success, and to the broadening of English policy and sentiment in every direction. Whatever danger the City Companies may apprehend from more advanced Radicalism, the diffusion and triumph of Liberal ideas have made them what they are to-day, has alone enabled the Mercers, the Grocers, the Merchant Taylors, the Clothworkers, and the other societies which stand pre- eminent, to publish magnificent statistics of revenue and still prouder statistics of expenditure. The ratio of financial im- portance is that of the ownership of freeholds within a radius of two miles from the Mansion House. It perhaps happened fortunately for the Gilds, that the PREFACE. 39 diversion of English commerce from its original channels and centres did not occur until they had acquired their estates, and consolidated themselves, so as to be enabled to retain their position and power when the agencies which had favoured and justified their institution were gradually superseded by the organic change in the condition and relationships of the English-speaking folk. V. The present ^ne ODJect of the present publication is to offer, in a tolerably succinct and compact shape, a com- prehensive description of all the Gilds, for the use and infor- mation of those who cannot afford the leisure to study the subject more at large ; and it is our wish to introduce as far as possible illustrations of some of the most remarkable objects in the hands of the Companies. its design. The undertaking has been planned on the basis and principle of exhibiting to the fullest extent the public utility and spirit of these ancient and interesting institutions, of which some trace back their origin almost to the Middle Ages, and most of which existed for a considerable period prior to their incorporation. The Returns The aDS°lute necessity for publishing, or pri- vately issuing, narratives of this description was very sensibly affected by the parliamentary returns of 1880, which, with very few exceptions, furnished to the Legislature and the public a view of the origin, character and objects, and income and expenditure, of the London Companies. But a separate and independent record of each Gild remains the sole means of laying before the public an adequately full and clear view of its origin, benefactions, and conformity to modern demands. PREFACE. It is by no means the fact that, of the seventy- accounts of £ye Companies, even a majority has hitherto Companies. thought fit to follow the example set by the Grocers, Haberdashers, Ironmongers, Leathersellers, Merchant Taylors, Skinners, and Vintners, by putting into circulation a more or less comprehensive history of their formation, constitution, and property. Only about four-and-twenty out of the seventy-five have taken such a course, and of these we have what may be termed exhaustive memorials from not more than half a dozen or so. The remainder have been content to appear in pamphlet shape, as it were, and to limit their narrative to a summary or outline, usually accompanied by a selection of graphic embellishments from objects of his- torical value in their possession. An account of the Mercers on a satisfactory scale is, we understand, in preparation by their clerk ; one of the Weavers is shortly to be expected ; and monographs of the Barber- Surgeons and Gold and Silver Wire-Drawers have quite recently appeared, the former being among the most sumptuous of the whole series. Our own text. Our accounts of the respective Companies have been drawn up on the basis of the official returns, with such additions as it was practicable to supply, and were thought likely to prove interesting, in each instance. The response of many, if not of most, of the Gilds to the parliamentary requisition may be said almost to err on the side of copious minuteness, especially in statistics and supplementary papers of various kinds ; and for such a purpose as the present there is an enormous body of detail, which is undeniably of immense permanent value, but which appeals to the student of blue- books rather than to the general reader. Statistical The details of income and expenditure, which form part of the returns made by the Companies to Parliament in 1882, are in the main of no great public PREFACE. interest and concern, beyond the figures which occur in our general introduction ; and it would be unadvisable, in the pre- sent case, to enter into such statistics, where they possess no historical bearing, and are purely financial. They are acces- sible at large in the Blue- Books, if reference is desired for special purposes. They may be taken with a moderate allow- ance to represent the actual positions of the several bodies in this respect ; from causes which are elsewhere explained, the receipts of the Gilds would now, as a rule, exhibit an increase on the returns of ten years ago. The returns were in their very essence official, and what might have been expected ; it was a strict matter of business ; extraneous topics were only incidentally and, as it were, un- consciously introduced ; and any information of a miscellaneous character has consequently to be sought elsewhere. At the same time, there is no dearth of archaeological and literary particulars, and the true, aim in the present case seemed to be to provide such as does not occur in the separate histories, in Herbert's work, and other more or less accessible sources. Trade usages We have entered into certain details in connexion ar"d . . j pretensions. with the Gilds, as well as with the unincorporated bodies, where trade usages and claims are treated, because they seemed to possess a more or less important measure of rele- vance to modern commercial economy and doctrine. But a glance even at one or two of the less elaborate monographs in print will suffice to demonstrate the impossibility, if it were desirable, of affording space for more than the salient facts and features relative to each Gild. Men of letters and research, however, owe a Permanent value of the iast;ng debt of gratitude to the Returns, which Returns of 1882. brought a veritable terra incognita within general reach, and cast a flood of light on an unique body of material for study and use. 42 PREFACE. It is obvious enough that an entrance into more The present book a com- particular detail might sometimes have been advan- prehensive . . . synopsis. tageously undertaken ; but exigencies ot space debarred the writer from assigning to any of the seventy- five bodies described more than a limited and fair proportion of the book, of which the fundamental plan and aim, after all, were a concise and comprehensive view of the entire sub- ject, accompanied by such introductory matter as would, it was hoped and thought, assist altogether the formation of a fairly clear and correct general idea of a question of standard importance and interest. Normal One group or succession of features in the incidence. annals and fortunes of these associations com- mences with the reign of Henry VIII., and embraces the unscrupulous and exorbitant calls on the Companies for financial aid and pecuniary assessments on a wide variety of occasions and pretexts by the royal houses of Tudor and Stuart, the practice of compelling them to maintain stores of grain at a heavy cost in the City against the periodical dearths, the disastrous incidence of the Civil War and the Great Fire, the vexatious and harassing Quo Warranto business in 1625 and 1684, and the changes in commercial polity and practice, whereby the practical advantages of the charters have been rendered a dead letter. The writs of The aim of the writs of Quo Warranto by Quo Warranto. Charles I. and Charles II. against the City charters, was, under colour of declaring the privileges and powers exer- cised by the Corporation and Gilds illegal and void, to raise money by fines, to establish a royal jurisdiction, and to convert the Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, and the governing bodies of the Livery Gilds, into nominees and tools of the Crown. But the Act of William and Mary equally repudiated the writ of 1 684 and the subsequent conditional re-grant of powers. PREFACE. 43 Order of The arrangement of the Companies has been arrangement. mSide on the common basis of placing the twelve great bodies in their precedence, and the remainder in alpha- betical order. The principle of priority or sequence was settled before 7 Henry VIII., when a precept of the Lord Mayor was published by reason of the long-continued dispute for supe- riority in this respect between the Clothworkers and the Dyers. Executive ^ did not seem to be of any service to particu- larize in each case the exact nature and extent of the executive staff maintained by the Gilds ; since the system does not materally vary, and has no bearing on the historical, social, or literary aspect of the matter. The official machinery naturally differs according to requirements, and several of the minor bodies are limited to a clerk, who keeps the archives at his own address. Literary To the account of each Company is annexed a memorials. ust Qf ^ cjyjc pageants performed by it, and of the books, tracts, and broadsides relating to it with which we happen to have met ; but the latter by no means claims to be exhaustive. Nor is it an easy matter to determine where the line should be drawn, as there are many works relevant to the Corporation and the City which do not specifically concern the Gilds, and a large body of literature upon industry and trade which is of too general a tenor to be ranged under any particular head. But in the Guildhall Library, British Museum, and other accessible public collections, the reader whose requirements lead him to researches beyond the ordinary limit, will find ah ex- tensive assemblage of publications and privately issued pieces bearing upon this topic. As a rule, in this bibliographical accompaniment we have limited ourselves to those items which are of historical or technical complexion, and have passed over PREFACE. all the merely indirect literary products, which have grown round the respective branches or divisions of the question, an infinite profusion of facetious trifles included. These have no bearing on the municipal or the industrial aspect of the matter in hand, and therefore appeared to be foreign to our purpose. But while we have restricted ourselves to the earlier lit- erature, leaving more recent productions to others, we have thought it useful to include much outside the strict historical boundary, which illustrated the incidence of each particular calling and association. It may not be disrespectful to intimate that there will be probably found here many items which are new even to those specially interested in the municipal antiquities of London. Mr Welsh's ^r- Charles Welsh, librarian to the Corpora- Bibliography. tiori) recentiy reaj before the Library Association a paper on the " Bibliography of the City Livery Companies " ; but this restricts itself to an indication of the works which have been printed on the history of the several Gilds ; and Mr. Welsh proposes to follow it up by a similar account of those preserved in MS. The radical and complete change which has taken place in the relationship of the several departments of commercial in- dustry to each other, as well as in the distribution of the sale of commodities among certain of them, will readily account for the arrangement of articles under what would otherwise appear unsuitable heads. The City As regards the City pageants, or Lord Mayors' shows, the honour and expense of setting them forth were of course limited to the very narrow proportion out of the whole number of Companies among which the choice of Mayor lay ; and the distinction, during the period from Elizabeth to Anne (1566-1714), was principally enjoyed by the Drapers, Goldsmiths, Haberdashers, Mercers, Merchant PREFACE. 45 Taylors, Ironmongers, and Skinners. Many wealthy and im- portant Gilds have never returned a Mayor, and others have been successful only on a single occasion. The great Com- panies have, in fact, almost monopolized the chief magistracy ; and Stow1 goes so far as to say that the Lord Mayor is to be chosen yearly out of them, "because those of inferiour rancke are not capable of such dignitie." LOSS of many The printed accounts of these solemnities seem of the printed copies. to commence (if we leave out of account the lost Ironmongers' one of 1566) with the Skinners' in 1585, and there are several gaps in the series down to 1639. None from 1640 to 1654 inclusive is known. The missing years prior to 1639 seem to be 1586-7-8-9, 1592-1604, 1607-8, 1610, 1625, 1630, and 1636. The account for 1588 was licensed for the press, and probably published. The earliest detailed description of one is perhaps that prepared to cele- brate the investiture of Sir Christopher Draper, Ironmonger, in 1566. We have not carried our bibliography of the pageants beyond 1 700 ; but they continued to appear some years subsequent to that date. Unpublished The existing printed pageants are far from narratives. representing the entire series, or even all which passed the press. From time to time a discovery is made of some piece, of which the existence had remained quite un- known, as was the case with the Fishmongers' Show for j 590, being the second relic of the kind hitherto recovered, and six- and-twenty years prior to that of Munday in 1616; and there is absolute evidence that the device of the Ironmongers' pageant for 1566 was privately issued by the Company. But in Herbert's Livery Companies and elsewhere many notices 1 Survey of London, 1633, p. 599. 46 PREFACE. occur of similar displays by the principal Gilds, alike before the invention of printing and before the practice of committing the descriptive accounts to type. The most ancient solemni- ties were not by any means confined to Lord Mayor's day, but perhaps even more frequently took place on occasions when the Companies were required, by precept or otherwise, to meet the Sovereign or his guests on their entry into the City from Westminster or from abroad. From the circum- stance that they originally assumed the form of cavalcades, they were termed ridings ; the members of the procession were on horseback, and so late as 1710 the Lord Mayor rode in this way to wait upon the judges. During some time, however, the passage was by water, and must have presented an imposing and attractive spectacle, while the river-side was still largely occupied by Gild-halls and private residences. The Hails. A tour of visits to the Halls of the Gilds is an experience which becomes very impressive from the powerful contrast which these scenes of dignified repose offer to the bustle and din prevalent without and on every side. Although the buildings themselves are rarely, if ever, contemporary with the origin of the institution, the site and soil are frequently un- changed ; but even where it is not so, and the Hall occupies what may be termed cold ground, the interior is apt to trans- port you in fancy to immeasurably different conditions of life, thought, and locomotion. Absence of The Halls themselves are too frequently void of Archaeological J interest. attraction to the historical student. Where they are not absolutely modern, the ancient features are generally either superficial or fragmentary. Their restoration, after the Fire of 1666, was peremptory, where the means existed ; but the more recent replacements of the work of Wren, Jarman, and other seventeenth century artists seem rather questionable in point of taste and judgment. PREFACE. 47 It is to be said, however, on the other side, that the future of the Companies is indissolubly identified with modern ideas and institutions, and we find substantially little, as a rule, in their places of assembly to remind us of the nature of their origin or of the causes of their prosperous longevity. And of Their successive departure, with very few excep- characteristic memorials. tions, from their original structure and pleas for existence and encouragement, is answerable for the at first rather surprising dearth of typical and characteristic objects in their hands. The early Gildsmen seem to have attached no value to historical relics other than portraits or decorative articles in the shape of tapestry and arras. You are met, as a rule, by a smile, when you ask the clerk or other officers whether his Gild can shew you anything of the kind ; and you learn that there are at the best only a few early registers and account-books, the charters, the bye-laws, the grant of arms, one or two pieces of elderly furniture, and some antique plate. The Fire of 1666, which the historian of the Apothecaries' Society terms beneficent, swept away much, no doubt ; and neglect and indifference have, we fear, accomplished the rest. Obii ations to While we have occupied ourselves with this subject, helpers. we jiave necessarily been placed in communication with a numerous body of gentlemen connected with the Livery Companies and the City of London ; and it is our simple duty, as it is a pleasure, to acknowledge the assistance which has been rendered to us in a great variety of ways, both for our text and illustrations, as well as the courteous reception which has awaited us from the official representatives of the Com- panies. In a work of this kind the amount of minute detail, which has to be collected or verified, makes the labour, no less than the encroachment on the time of others, peculiarly heavy. But we have very particularly to thank the clerks to the 48 PREFACE. Grocers', Fishmongers', Merchant Taylors', Salters', Drapers', Clothworkers', Coopers', Haberdashers', Saddlers', Stationers', Fan-makers', Shipwrights', and Loriners' Companies ; and Mr. John Welsh, Librarian to the Corporation ; Mr. J. A. Kingdon, of the Grocers' Company ; Mr. John Addison, Past-Master of the Clockmakers ; Mr. Frederick Clarke, Master of the Cord- wainers ; Mr. George Elkington, junr. ; Mr. F. J. Cox; Mr. John Jarvis, junr. ; and our old schoolfellow, Dr. Sharpe, Keeper of the Archives at Guildhall, for personal attention and assistance. The graphic The illustrations of various kinds which accom- voiume. pany the volume have been of course selected with a view to their characteristic interest and significance. Seeing the enormous amount of treasure in the shape of plate and other objects in the possession of the Companies, or the major part of them, it was out of the question to reproduce more than a limited number of representative specimens ; and the difficulty, by the exercise of this line of choice, at once sensibly decreased, since in typical antiquities and curiosities these bodies are, as we have said, by no means rich. The Armorial Bearings which we give possess a certain •symbolical and typical value, as the distinguishing badges and ensigns of these industrial corporations, when such an emblem on a coat, on a banner, or over a portal, spoke a language perfectly intelligible to thousands, who were neither heralds nor scholars. External and figurative tokens constituted the best method of appeal to persons of illiterate character con- versant with the alphabet and mechanical appliances of the chief industrial arts. In ancient commercial life these blazon- ries played the same part as in that of the religious and chivalric orders ; their actual speech and significance are of the past, and their retention by the Companies, especially where they are unfaithful to the old design, is a matter of mere PREFACE. 49 form. Both the early and current representations in print are apt to be inexact from an imperfect study of the original grant, or from an advised change in some of the detail ; but if the shield is to be of any worth and authority, it should be set forth in accordance with the Herald's own delineation. The kind and liberal use of many of the graphic embellish- ments of the book has, we are sure, largely tended to render it more acceptable and attractive. Our genuine Whatever we may have done in the direction of purpose. criticizing some of the proceedings and tendencies of the City Gilds, our primary motive has been, and is, not to bear a part in pulling down these few remaining old stones of London, but to preserve them. The Gilds have, to a large extent, their future in their own hands ; and they seem, on the whole, fairly sensible of the responsible position which they occupy, and of their changed relationship to the community. In 12 Richard II. (1388) letters mandatory were directed by the king from Cambridge to the Mayor of London, to make proclamation that all the masters and wardens of Gilds and fraternities within the City of London, or the suburbs thereof, should deliver to the king and council in the Chancery a full, distinct, and proper account in writing of the manner and nature of such foundations, together with their rules and ordinances, and an account of all their lands, goods, and chattels, and to produce their charters, under pain of having all their grants revoked or annulled. The text of the commission is extant, but no record has yet been discovered of the results as regards the Livery Companies of London. Only the returns of some of those belonging to the provinces have come to light, and have been edited by the late Toulmin Smith. c.c. 4 PREFACE. In i Edward VI., after the passing of the act which vested all lands held to support chauntries, or obits, or for other superstitious purposes, in the Crown, the Companies of London were called upon to make returns (which are still extant) " of any such establishments existing within their bodies, with par- ticulars of the estates left to support them, and of all other property to which the Crown became entitled." The " Municipal Commission" was appointed in 1833, "to inquire as to the existing state of municipal corporations in England and Wales." The Commission prosecuted the inquiry in divisions, and five commissioners, of whom the late Sir Francis Palgrave was one, inquired into London and South- wark. Their report, drawn by Sir Francis Palgrave, is a long and careful one. It is obvious that a City Company is not a city or a borough, and it was not therefore clear that the Companies of London were within the scope of the Municipal Commission. The commissioners, however, probably felt that as they were historically connected with the municipality, it was desirable to inquire into their constitution ; and with this view they administered a number of queries, and also sat at the Guild- hall to receive information. Many of these bodies sent in answers to the queries of the commissioners. These related, not only to the constitution, but also to the corporate property and their mode of expending their corporate income. No questions were asked as to the trust property, for the reason that that was then undergoing an inquiry by a Charity Commission. The Charity Commission between 1818 and 1880 made a series of elaborate inquiries into the charities administered by the Companies. The results are to be found partly in the Reports of the Commission, and partly in the Appendix to that of the Royal Commission of 1880. PREFACE. In 1868 Lord Robert Montagu moved in the House of Commons for a return of the charities administered by the City Companies. This was promptly supplied by the Charity Commission ; but the return is not always accurate, and is too condensed to be very useful. Between 1876 and 1879 the educational endowments committee of the School Board for London was engaged in an inquiry into the charities adminis- tered by the Companies; and the Royal Commission of 1880 was furnished by the Board with copies of the Report. In the Record Office, duplicates of many of the charters and licences in mortmain granted to the Companies are pre- served. Many judgments of the courts of law and decrees of the courts of Chancery concerning them are also recorded there, and there can be no doubt that the office contains many other documents relating thereto. In the Hustings Court of the City, many of the acts of the courts of Aldermen and Common Council under this head are enrolled, and thousands of the wills x under which the Companies hold property, and many of their other title-deeds, are to be found in this ancient office. In the Guildhall library there is a considerable collection of books and pamphlets relating to this topic. Shortly after the appointment of the Municipal Commission of 1834, the great Companies employed Mr. Herbert, librarian to the Corporation of London, to write an account of their history. Several of the great Companies had given little information to the commissioners, whose proceedings they conceived to be ultra vires. They were willing, however, to give it to the public voluntarily, and for this purpose they placed their archives at Mr. Herbert's disposal. The result 1 A calendar of wills is in course of publication under the care of Dr. Sharpe, Curator of the City Archives. PREFACE. was the History of the Twelve Great Companies of London, 1836, which contains some information as to their trust, but none as to their corporate, estate. Herbert's History of the Twelve Great Companies neces- sarily contains only very incidental notices of the others ; and it must be confessed that, from an historical point of view, the latter offer to us a volume of information and material quite equal in importance, and sometimes even superior in curiosity and interest. Of the so called minor Gilds, many are divided from the foremost twelve by little more than an imaginary and customary line ; and a limitation to the twelve great fraternities shuts out many of the most valuable industries of the country, and much of that illustrative and picturesque light which this side of London life sheds on the ancient condition and genius of the metropolis. By no means the least valuable feature in Herbert's book, is the " Historical Essay" which forms an introduction to the accounts of the Gilds. This preliminary matter is full of inter- esting and important information, which it would be perfectly futile to condense. But occasional use has been made of it in the notices which we have given of the ancient Hanseatic and other fraternities, which from the Anglo-Saxon times began to form settlements in the vicinity of the Thames bank by Dowgate and Queenhithe. The White Book of the City of London is one of the storehouses of information which the late Mr. Riley threw open to us all in a series of volumes, which comprehended that, the Liber Custumariim and the Liber Horn, with very curious Appendices of the Assisa Panis, etc. The White Book, traditionally compiled by John Carpenter, founder of the City of London School, and Sir Richard Whit- tington, citizen and mercer, deals with a variety of topics con- nected with civic government and police, and includes rates of PREFACE. 53 customs, "with the modes of payment, regulations as to forc- stallers, bakers, vintners, brewers, taverners, skinners and furriers, butchers, and others, and lays clown the scale of wages for different classes of operatives, and the lines on which they should work. The volume seems to be a compilation into a more or less methodical form from the then existing records, which had gradually accumulated at Guildhall as separate documents or papers. It certainly, with its companions and the Addenda, constitutes material for forming" a fairly correct judg- ment of the internal condition of London proper, commercial, social, and sanitary, in the old time. It was a book of reference and authority alike for the official dignitary, the merchant, the lawyer, and the tradesman. Mr. Riley's Memorials of the City of London and of London Life, printed by order of the Corporation in 1 868 ; the Chronicle of Old London, 1089-1483, 4to, 1827; Munimenta Gildhallce Londinensis, Liber Albiis, Liber Custumarum, et Liber Horn, published in 1859, under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, contain many allusions to the early history of the Companies. The Corporation of London has published an index to Remembrancia, which contains much relevant detail. It is deserving of remark that, while copious notices of many or most trades present themselves in the City archives, of others which must have existed from the most ancient period in some shape we meet with no trace ; and this is so much so, that it would be far easier to enumerate the bodies to which references exist. Serjeant Pulling's Laws of London and Mr. Norton's Commentaries on the City of London may be consulted. The only monographs of authority in English are Mr. Gross's elaborate and valuable one on the Gild merchant, and the late Mr. Toulmin Smith's Original Ordinances of more than One Hundred English Gilds, published by the Early 54 PREFACE. English Text Society. The latter contains an introduction by Miss Toulmin Smith, author of the article on " Gilds'" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and a preliminary essay on the subject of these corporations by Dr. Brentano, of the University of Aschaffenburg. The essay of Dr. Brentano is much relied upon by Dr. Stubbs in his Constitutional History of England, a work which, with the same author's Annales Londinenses and Annales Paulini, the late Mr. J. R. Green's History of the English People, and the brilliant description of the Companies with which Mr. Froude's history commences, constitutes a summary of the history of the Gilds from their foundation to the period of their decadence as industrial corporations. Mr. Freeman's studies have been limited to the early " Knighten Gild." The principal authorities in German on the subject of the Gilds of mediaeval Europe are the works of Wilda and of Gierke (Geschichte des Deutschen Genossenschaftwesens. Berlin, 1868). For the Gilds of France the authorities are Raynouard's Histoire du Droit Municipal en France, published in 1829; M. A. Thierry's Re"cits des Temps Me"rovingiens, published in 1840; M. Delpit's Collection de Documents Ine'dits; M. Gustave Fagnier's Etudes sur £ Industrie a Paris au i$eme et \^lme Siecle ; and a valuable paper by a Belgian antiquary, M. Wauter, entitled Les Gildes Commimales a £ Onzieme Siecle, published in the Bulletin de FAcaddmie de Belgique (2me serie, t. xxxvii., p. 874). The Grocers' Company, the second in order of civic pre- cedence, appointed a committee in that year "to search their records and prepare a report upon the constitution and income and expenditure of the Company, and the general management of the Company's business." This was presented to the court on February 2, 1881, and was drawn up with great ability, PREFACE. 55 and in a form which made it serviceable to the Royal Com- mission. These were the earliest returns received from the great Companies. The above were the sources of the preliminary report of 1880. A few of the minor Companies either declined to make returns or made returns which were not satisfactory. These Companies were the Broderers, Dyers, Distillers, Glovers, Tinplate Workers, and Weavers. The royal commissioners received statements from some gentlemen, who suggested that it was desirable to disestablish and disendow the Companies, or to materially alter their con- stitution. Three academical bodies, University College, London, King's College, London, and Magee College, Londonderry, and the University Extension Society sent deputations to urge their respective claims to recognition by the Government as candi- dates for endowment, should the commissioners determine to recommend to the Government a redistribution of the revenues of the Companies. The School Board of London came before them to enforce the views expressed in the report of the educational endowment committee mentioned above ; and a deputation, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the president of the Royal Society, and Sir F. Bramwell, F.R.S., attended to explain the constitution of the City and Gilds of London Technical Institute. During 1883 they received a number of deputations from the Companies, and addressed to the Companies an invitation to appoint a representative or representatives to give evidence before and confer with them. In reply the Companies sent before the Commission several gentlemen of great experience in the conduct of their affairs, from whom it received valuable information ; and several of the statements laid before it dis- played much learning and ability. 56 PREFACE. VI. The General Introduction which succeeds is a careful digest and synopsis of the elaborate parliamentary return of 1882, prefixed to the returns furnished by the Companies. The official authority of the statements contained therein was judged to be a strong ground for preferring it to any compilation of a normal literary character. But while it is unquestionably of extreme value as a record, the length to which it extends, from the absence of any necessity for studying space or expense, renders it tedious and unattractive ; and there has been no great difficulty in reducing the matter within reasonable limits, and at the same time omitting nothing essential to a proper view of the whole subject. In the Report, however, the object being different, the method pursued was naturally at variance with ours, and the consequence has been that the material has unavoidably undergone a certain amount of rearrangement and modification. This body of information will serve to prepare the reader for the historical sketches and other particulars of the several Companies which follow. A revised precis of these valuable preliminaries seemed to be as much as could be reasonably expected or required ; and the task of condensation was the more feasible that, without omitting any material fact or circumstance, a large amount of space was capable of being saved by eschewing redundancies, contradictions, and irrelevancies so often found in records un- trammelled by literary exigencies, and a fairly lucid and full view of the whole question presented in a far more moderate com- pass. Besides, it was found that the arrangement of the matter was faulty and confused, and that an entire reconstruction of the report was calculated to render it far more intelligible and satisfactory. It will probably not surprise any one conversant PREFACE. 57 with official composition to learn that it has been necessary throughout to reduce the text to grammatical English. A competent knowledge of their native language ought to be a compulsory part of the training of all lawyers and public servants. In many cases we have felt to be justified in cor- recting errors of statement of various kinds. The parliamentary return of 1884, as it is hereinafter set forth, assumes the shape which it would have presented in the first place, had it emanated from a literary, instead of an official, source. The draughtsmen of these papers are usually chosen from the same class of personage as those of bills and statutes, and with the same unhappy results. Except in one or two instances, no changes of consequence have occurred in the constitution and general position of the Gilds since 1884, when the report of the Royal Commission was published. As in a work of the present character it is obviously impossible to include all the minute particulars and lengthy documents in print or MS., a table of the miscellaneous and supplementary papers annexed to the Report of 1882 maybe useful for reference. The four volumes of the City oj London Livery Companies Commission Report contain, in addition to the accounts of the Companies, historical and statistical, the following items : Text of Commission. Report signed by the Earl of Derby, the Duke of Bedford, Viscount Sher- brooke, Lord Coleridge, Sir Sydney H. Waterlow, Mr. Pell, Mr. Walter James, Mr. Firth, and Mr. Burt ; with Appendix and Notes by Messrs. Horace Davey and F. Vaughan Hawkins. " Dissent " Report, signed by Sir Richard Cross, Sir N. de Rothschild, and Mr. Alderman Cotton. Protest of Mr. Alderman Cotton. Observations and Memorandum by Mr. Firth and Memorandum by Mr. Burt. ORAL INQUIRY, PARLIAMENTARY SESSION, 1882. Evidence of Mr. Thomas Hare, Senior Inspector of Charities, and his Memoranda. PREFACE. Evidence of Mr. Henry Longley, Commissioner of Charities. Evidence of Mr. James Beal and Mr. J. R. Phillips (who appeared to support the views of Mr. Firth), Mr. E. J. Watherston, Mr. W. H. Williamson, and Mr. W. Gilbert (all of whom requested to be examined). Evidence of Sir George Young, Dr. Wood, Dr. Williamson, F.R.S., and Mr. Henry Morley (a deputation from University College, London). Memorial of University College, London. Evidence of the Lord Chancellor, Mr. W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., and Sir F. Bramwell, F.R.S. (on behalf of the City and Gilds of London Technical Institute). Prospectus of Technical Institute. Memorial of King's College, London, and Evidence of the Rev. Canon Barry, Professors Adams, Shelley, and Wiltshire, Mr. Serocold, treasurer, and Mr. Cunningham, secretary (on the behalf of the College). Evidence of Dr. Todd, the Rev. Mr. McCay, Mr. Andrew Brown, Mr. Robert Stewart, Mr. Robert Dunn, the Rev. Mr. Brown, and Professor Dougherty (a deputation claiming to represent the tenants on the Ulster estates), and Appendix. Evidence of the Rev. Mr. Rogers, Mr. Cooke, and Professor Dougherty (a deputation from Magee College, Londonderry). Evidence of the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, M.P. (a deputation from the London Society for the Extension of University Teaching). Evidence of Mr. Lucraft (a deputation from the School Board of London). ORAL INQUIRY, PARLIAMENTARY SESSION, 1883. Letter from the Mercers' Company. Memorandum of the Merchant Taylors' Company (as to certain statements made by Mr. Beal, Mr. Phillips, and other witnesses examined during 1882 with reference to the Company). Statement by Grocers' Company (as to certain statements made by Mr. Beal, Mr. Phillips, and other witnesses examined during 1882 relating to the Com- pany, and as to certain views expressed by Mr. Firth in Municipal London}. Evidence of Mr. J. H. Warner (on behalf of the Grocers' Company). Evidence of Sir F. Bramwell, F.R.S. (on behalf of the Goldsmiths' Company). Letter of Mr. Prideaux, on behalf of the Goldsmiths' Company, to the Com- missioners (criticizing certain statements made by Mr. Beal, Mr. Phillips, and other witnesses during 1882, and also the views expressed by Mr. Firth in Municipal London). Statement of the Company (with reference to the same matters), and evidence of Mr. Prideaux (on behalf of the Company). Evidence of Mr. T. H. Fordham, Mr. W. C. Yenning, and Mr. J. T. Smith (representing the Fishmongers' Company), and statement of the Company (with reference to statements made by witnesses from Ulster in 1882). Evidence of Mr. Graves and Mr. Beaumont (representing the Cutlers' Com- pany), with reference to a passage in Mr. Firth's Municipal London. Evidence of Mr. E. Gregory, Mr. W. H. Townsend, Mr. White, Mr. Wyld, Mr. Neate, and Mr. Owen Roberts (representing the Clothworkers' Company). Observations and Further Observations by the Clothworkers' Company (with PREFACE. 59 reference to statements made by Mr. Beal, Mr. Phillips, and other witnesses examined during 1882, and also as to the views expressed by Mr. Firth in Municipal London] . Evidence of Mr. Dalton, Mr. Jennings, and Mr. Sawyer (representing the Drapers' Company). Evidence of Mr. Hill, Mr. le Gros Clark, Mr. Hicks, Mr. Eaton, M.P., Mr. Alderman Fowler, M.P., and Mr. E. L. Scott (representing the Salters' Com- pany) ; and statement by the Company (as to the evidence given by the Ulster witnesses in 1882). Evidence of Mr. Barron, Mr. Bevan, Mr. Homer, Mr. Price, Mr. Gribble, and Mr. Beck (representing the Ironmongers' Company and certain Companies associated with it in the management of Ulster estates). Evidence of Mr. Miles, Mr. John Miles, Mr. Layton, and Mr. Rivington (representing the Stationers' Company). Statement by the Society of Apothecaries, and Evidence of Mr. Sauer and Mr. Upton (representing the Society). Evidence of Dr. Ramsay and Major Harding (representing the Needlemakers' Company). Statement by the Homers' Company, and Evidence of Mr. Compton (repre- senting the Company). Statement by the Ironmongers' Company, and Statement by the same (as to the Company's Irish estate and the evidence given by the Ulster witnessses in 1882). Statement of the Skinners' Company and Memorial (as to the Ulster estate of the Company and the evidence given by the Ulster witnesses in 1882). Letters from the Coachmakers' and Barbers' Companies. CHARITY COMMISSION PAPERS. Observations by the Armourers' and Braziers' Company as to evidence of Mr. Lucraft. Detailed accounts of Mercers' Company, and Charitable Accounts of same ; Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Company, with an Appendix. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Grocers' Company, with an Appendix, and Charitable Accounts of the Company. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Drapers' Company, with an Appendix, and the Charitable Accounts of the Company. Mr. Hare's Reports on the Charities administered by the Fishmongers' Com- pany, with an Appendix, and the Company's Charitable Accounts. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Goldsmiths' Com- pany, with the Charitable Accounts of the Company. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Skinners' Company, with an Appendix, and the Accounts. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Merchant Taylors Company, draft Report on Boone's Charity, administered by the Company, Mr. Skirrow's Report on Donkin's Charity, administered by the Company, and the Accounts. 6O PREFACE. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Haberdashers' Company, with an Appendix, and the Accounts. Mr. Hare's and Mr. Simmons' Reports on the Charities administered by the Baiters' Company, and the Accounts. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Ironmongers' Com- pany, and the Accounts. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Vintners' Company, and the Accounts. Charitable Accounts of the Vintners' Company. Mr. Hare's Report on the Charities administered by the Clothworkers' Com- pany, with two Appendices, and the Accounts. MINOR COMPANIES. Mr. Simmons' or Simons' Reports on the Apothecaries', Armourers', Bakers', Barbers', and Blacksmiths' Charities, with the Accounts of each. Mr. Simmons' Report on the Charities of the Bowyers' Company. Reports on the Charities of the Broderers' and other Minor Companies by Mr. Hare, except the Upholders', for which there is no Report. Reports on the Continental Gilds in communications to the Foreign Office, and Memoranda by persons resident abroad. Tables of Income (Trust and Corporate) and Expenditure of the Gilds. Amounts contributed by members and amounts spent on internal objects. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. THE Companies of London appear to have sprung from a number of Gilds, which were associations of neighbours for purposes of mutual assistance. Such associations were very numerous in the Middle Ages, both in town and country, and they appear to have abounded in London at a very early period. A Frith Gild and a Knighten or Knights' Gild seem to have existed in London in Anglo-Saxon times,1 1 The Cniighten, Knighten, or English Knighten, Gild was no more than a similar association in its origin, consisting of thirteen military persons, to whom, according to the received tradition, King Edgar (958-68) granted certain waste land in the east of London, toward Aldgate, for prescribed services performed. The concession, which does not seem to have been committed to writing, was confirmed by Edward the Confessor in a charter at the suit of certain burgesses of London, the successors of these knights ; but there was no trading privilege, and the Prior of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, became the sovereign of the Gild and the Alderman ex cfficio of Portsoken Ward. He rendered an account to the Crown of the taillage paid by the men of the Ward, presided over the Wardmotes, and in Stowe's time still rode in procession with the mayor and other aldermen, but clad in a purple, instead of a scarlet, gown. The term portsoken, as Herbert suggests, doubtless signified the soc-en or franchises at the port or gate. Ci 62 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. and at the Norman Conquest there were probably many other bodies of a like nature there. Their main objects were the relief of poverty and the performance of masses for the dead. These Gilds present a close analogy to the Collegia Opificum which existed under the Roman empire— institutions arising out of the urban life of the period, the primary objects of which were common worship and social intercourse : the secondary objects, the protection of the trades against unjust taxes and their internal regulation. They also served as benefit clubs, defraying the expenses of burial and funeral sacrifices for deceased members, in some cases out of legacies left for that purpose. It has been suggested that mediaeval Europe borrowed this part of the industrial organization of the Roman empire, as it did portions of the Roman juridical system. Hallam describes the Gilds as " fraternities by voluntary compact, to relieve each other in poverty, and to protect each other from injury. Two essential characteristics belonged to them : the common banquet and the common purse. They had also in many instances a religious, sometimes a secret, ceremonial, to knit more firmly the bond of fidelity. . . They readily became connected with the exercise of trades, with the training of apprentices, with the traditional rules of art." A vast number of such fraternities existed throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Every hamlet had a Gild of some kind. In the towns they were very numerous. The passage cited suggests a classification of the fraternities which has been adopted by subsequent writers. The Gilds have been divided into social or religious Gilds and Craft Gilds. But the Gilds of the former class, those which were not industrial corporations, by no means limited their purposes to mutual relief and protection. They shewed much public spirit, and undertook public burdens of every kind. The repairing of roads and bridges, the relief of pilgrims, the maintenance of schools and almshouses, the periodical exhibition of pageants and miracle-plays, are a few of the objects which they promoted. Another community, differing from these, but which also was of importance during the Middle Ages, was the Gild Merchant. It existed in the towns, and was, as compared with the Craft Gilds, an aristocratic body, of which the members were originally prosperous traders, and became in course of time, by purchase or otherwise, landowners. Many of these patrician families, especially abroad, acquired oligarchical and even sovereign power in the towns, through the Gilds Merchant. But eventually, in nearly every case, the aristocratic municipality had to give way, though sometimes not till after a long and fierce struggle, to the general body of the citizens as represented by the Craft Gilds. In GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 6} London the victory of the popular party had become assured as early as the reign of Edward II. The Gilds Merchant and the Craft Gilds were thus the germ of the municipalities of Europe. Speaking of the English communities from this point of view, Hallam says : "They are frequently mentioned in our Anglo-Saxon documents, and are the basis of those corporations which the Norman kings recognised or founded. The Gild was, of course, in its primary character, a personal association ; it was in the State, but not the State ; it belonged to the city without embracing all the citizens ; its purposes were the good of the fellows alone. But when the good was inseparable from that of their little country, their walls and churches, the principle of voluntary association was readily extended ; and from the private Gild, possessing already the vital spirit of faithfulness and brotherly love, sprang the sworn community, the body of citizens bound by a voluntary but perpetual obligation to guard each other's rights against the thefts of the weak or the tyranny of the powerful." The trades of London had in early times their recognised quarters in the City, and the Gilds undertook the regulation of them. They appointed overseers to inspect the wares produced or sold, and also umpires to adjudicate in cases of dispute between masters and workmen. They generally had halls, at which meetings of the principal members took place for purposes of inspection, arbitration, and consideration of claims to charitable relief ; and at these halls banquets were frequently given. Being purely voluntary associations, they required no licence from the State. "Ordinances" were framed for internal government by the most influential members. Such ordinances were (i) religious ; (2) social and charitable ; (3) industrial. They comprised rules for the attendance of the members at the services of the Church, for the promotion of pilgrim- ages, and for the celebration of masses for the dead ; and regulations as to common meals and the relief of poor brethren and sisters, the hours of labour, the processes of manufacture, the wages of workmen, and technical education. The Inns of Court and Chancery and Serjeants' Inn were probably at first bodies in some respects similar to the Gilds, though not corporations. Charters were granted by Edward III. or Richard II. to many of the Companies for valuable consideration. Succeeding sovereigns renewed them down to the time of the accession of the House of Hanover. The sums paid by the Companies to the national exchequer in respect of the original and inspeximus charters were very considerable. The terms of the charters are in most cases obviously founded on the 64 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. ordinances. They recognise the Gilds as existing, "administered," to quote the words of Dr. Stubbs, "by their own officers, and administer- ing their own property in the usual way, the Aldermen of the Gilds holding the estates, when the Gilds possessed estates, direct from the king." The hospitals and Inns of Court of London and many provincial Gilds received their first charters about the time of the incorporation of the London Companies, and inspeximus charters afterwards in the same way at the commencement of each reign. At a certain interval from their incorporation the then existing members formed " bye-laws " to control details. On their incorporation the Companies, like all similar bodies, became amenable to the processes of Scire Facias and Quo Warranto ; but there is nothing in their history to warrant the supposition that they could ever have been legally dissolved. From the time when the State recognised their existence, the only obligation of the governing bodies, which succeeded the " Aldermen," has been to carry out, so far as has been practicable, having regard to change of times, the terms of the charters and bye-laws, and to apply the trust-funds to the purposes for which they were bequeathed. The corporate property of the Companies has always been, in the eye of the law, their own, just as much as the property of individuals. A licence in mortmain was contained in most of the charters, and some of the charters of inspeximus contain lists of the lands held by the Companies at the time they were granted, and expressly recognise the title thereto ; but by the immemorial custom of the City " free burgage" lands, i.e. lands held "direct from the Crown," could be devised to corporations without any limitation as to value. During many centuries land was throughout England the principal kind of property ; and it was only natural that, having the advantage of this custom, the Companies should soon become large holders of real property within the walls of London. Their constitution was usually aristocratic. The administrators, who are generally named in the first charters, were the principal capitalists and employers of labour, or else distinguished citizens not connected with commerce or manufactures, and by the terms of the charters these boards had complete control over the associations. Some, such as the Mercers and Grocers, appear to have consisted, to a great extent, of merchants and wholesale dealers ; others, such as the Fishmongers, and the other Companies deriving their names from trades, of shop- keepers and their apprentices ; others, such as the Goldsmiths and the Clothworkers, deriving their names from "arts and misteries," of master-manufacturers and artisans. But the names of the Companies GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 65 are misleading, for the reasons that from time immemorial (i) the privileges of membership have been hereditary, one mode of admission having always been by patrimony, which causes the right to the freedom to descend to all the lineal representatives, male and female, of every freeman ; (2) a system of apprenticeship has entered into the constitu- tion of the Companies, under which members, irrespective of their membership of the respective trades, were privileged to receive appren- tices. These reasons have caused the Companies to consist largely of non-craftsmen from the earliest times ; and the proportion of non- craftsmen seems always to have been particularly large among the governing bodies. It has been suggested that these corporations, by their power of admitting to their freedom, were one of the causes of the disappearance of villeinage. There is no doubt that the custom of the towns by which freedom was obtained by means of residence for a year and a day within the walls was, along with manumission and the growth of copy- hold tenure, an instrument of enfranchisement, and that this custom obtained in London ; but Dr. Stubbs is of opinion that the influence exercised by the civic Companies was not in this respect considerable. The charters, particularly the later, generally extend the area of control assumed by the Companies in their original state as Gilds. Under some, the Companies acquire power to prevent persons other than freemen from carrying on callings, and the right of searching for and destroying defective wares within a radius of several miles from Cornhill. It is needless to say that monopolies and powers of this description are contrary to law ; yet both by their charters and by letters patent the Companies received such from the Crown. From the time of their incorporation down to the present period, they have exercised them in certain cases, as hereinafter mentioned, within the City and its liberties ; never, probably, in the more extended area over which, by virtue of some of the more recent charters, they acquired a nominal control. During the whole period from the Plantagenet dynasty to the Restoration, the Companies, probably because they constituted a con- venient division of the citizens for purposes of taxation, were forced to contribute large sums to the national exchequer, chiefly for the purpose of defraying the expenses of wars ; and under a custom of the City which has long been obsolete, they were at one time bound to lend money to the municipality with which to purchase corn and coals for the poor in times of scarcity. Their decay as trade organizations had certainly commenced at the outset of the sixteenth century ; and probably by the end of it they had C,c. 5 66 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. practically ceased to be of any use for industrial purposes, prior to the revival which has taken place within living recollection. The period of the cesser of their original connexion with the trade and manufactures of London is approximately that of the Reformation ; and as Catholicism was of the essence of their religious rules at the time when they ceased to have any such control, they also ceased to be in any real sense religious fraternities. Thus, of their three original functions, two, those of common worship and association for commercial purposes, became obsolete about four centuries ago. Their remaining function, the dual one of hospitality and charity, became the only one which it was possible for them during a great length of time to dis- charge. It appears that during the last four hundred years, and until recently, the Companies were mainly associations identified with hospi- tality and benevolence. The returns discovered by Toulmin Smith present a vivid picture of the state of the Social Gilds and Craft Gilds of the provincial towns of England during the fourteenth century. They are the answers of the Gilds to an inquisition directed by Richard II. and his Parliament sitting at Cambridge in 1388. Two writs were ordered to be issued to the sheriff of each county, the first calling upon " the masters and wardens of all Gilds and brotherhoods" to send up to the king's council all details as to the foundation, statutes, and property of their Gilds ; the second calling upon the " masters, wardens, and overlookers of all the mysteries and crafts " to send up in the same way copies of their charters or letters patent. These writs are in Latin. The returns are in Latin, Norman- French, or English, chiefly the last. It has been computed that at this time there were about 40,000 such associations in the provinces. From the mention of sisters in almost all the returns, it may be inferred that women were equally eligible with men for membership, and that they attended the masses, specially solemnized for the benefit of the associations, and their banquets. The number of members varied indefinitely from a very few to 15,000. An oath of obedience to the ordinances was administered to each member as he or she joined. The officers and servants con- sisted of an alderman, several stewards, a clerk, and a dean or beadle. The members met from once to four times a year, either in the Gild-hall or Gild-house, if the Gild possessed a hall or house, or at the houses of different members in rotation. They arrived clad in a costume or vesture, the colour and pattern of which had been selected by the founders. At the meetings officers were appointed, new brethren were admitted, and relief was voted. It does not appear whether all the members were summoned for the transaction of ordinary business, GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 67 or whether the aldermen or wardens and stewards practically them- selves managed the affairs of the Gilds. On the " Gild day," generally the day of the saint to whom the Gild was dedicated, the brethren and sisters, arrayed in their vesture, and carrying candles, went in procession to church to hear mass performed at an altar, the light before which was maintained by the Gild. One of the ordinances of many consisted in a bidding prayer, which was said on this occasion, and in some cases at the commencement of all the meetings of the fraternity. After the conclusion of the mass alms were distributed to the poor by the stewards, and the Gild returned in procession to their hall to enjoy the anniversary banquet or common meal. The brethren and sisters also attended in their garb at the funerals of members and at the performance of masses for the repose of the souls of their dead. The Gild provided the customary wax lights and the pall. An entrance fee, a fixed annual payment to the common purse, and dues to the aldermen and officers, were the contribution made by members to the funds of the Gild. In some, each member on joining had to undertake to leave the Gild a legacy at his decease. Many such were left, chiefly of lands, where the Gilds had, as was commonly the case, licences in mortmain. Usually these legacies were coupled with a condition that an obit should be annually performed for the soul of the testator. The Gilds themselves also invested their savings in lands. Many of them by these means became large holders of real property. The incomes of all the Gilds were up to a certain point expended in much the same way. The maintenance of the hall, the expense of the entertainments, the payment of salaries, the relief of poor members and of their widows and orphans, the portioning of poor maids, and the payments for funerals and obits were the purposes to which the common funds were primarily applicable. The funds of the Craft Gilds were secondarily applicable to the binding of apprentices, loans to young men starting in business, the purchase of new receipts and inventions, and the prevention of adulteration. Both the Social and Craft Gilds also relieved the poor, supplied the place of highway boards and bridge authorities, maintained churches, endowed schools, colleges, and hospitals, and exhibited pageants. The rules of all the bodies were such as to inculcate respect for the law, commercial honesty, and a high standard of conduct, together with kindness and consideration for the brethren and sisters, and for the poor. They also breathe a spirit of very simple piety. The urban Craft Gilds were subject to the jurisdiction of the municipal 68 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. authorities. Their regulations were liable to annulment if inconsistent with the franchises and liberties of the towns ; and the mayors and town councils frequently issued precepts to them with respect to the hours of labour, the methods of manufacture, the education of apprentices, and the relations of the different trades to each other. The Gilds of Norman London were voluntary associations, precisely similar to the provincial institutions. They have had a double history ; (i) a history in connexion with the municipality of London ; (2) a domestic history, as industrial, mercantile, and charitable corporations. i. By the time of Edward II., the government of London had assumed, partly in consequence of the terms of the City's charters, partly as the result of civic revolutions, a popular form, composed of Anglo-Saxon and Norman elements, and substantially identical with the present constitution. The old manorial jurisdictions had been swept away, a civic court of law had been established, and the servile tenures had been replaced by " free burgage," the urban analogue of the rural free socage. The Craft Gilds of London, which appear by this time to have absorbed the Knighten Gild and other similar bodies, represented the popular party in the contest, and in the result substituted themselves, though for a short time only, for the wards as the constituent parts of the Municipality. The trades, having in many cases their recognised quarters in the City, the temporary substitution of the bodies which represented them for the wards still left the representation local. This arrangement, however, lasted only till the next reign, when the wards were permanently restored, with the differences consequent upon the abolition of all feudal or semi-feudal privileges. 2. As regards the domestic history of the Companies as industrial, mercantile, and charitable corporations, their present constitution, in- volving three grades of membership — the Court electing itself by co-optation, the Livery, and the Freemen — was evidently a development of the more pristine system of government, under which these distinc- tions of rank and authority were less broadly and strongly marked. The probability seems to be, that their present framework, one obviously of great advantage to the Courts, dates back before the reign of Edward III., in which, as it is well known, they received their parent charters. The origin of the distinction between the Great and the Minor Com- panies is not so clear. A craftsman, a member of the Mercers' Gild, became Mayor in 1214, and before the end of the thirteenth century the Mayors were always members of the Craft Gilds, particularly (i) of the Mercers, Grocers, and Goldsmiths, which were from the earliest times largely composed GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 69 of wealthy merchants and shipowners ; and (2) of Companies such as the early Woolstaplers and Sheermen, which represented the trade in wool and cloth. Having regard to the fact, that about a century after this period the leading men of the Gilds were generally Aldermen, and that the Corporation exercised a minute supervision over the trade and manu- factures of London, we regard the Companies as having become in effect a municipal committee of trade and manufactures. Soon after they had arrived at this position they were incorporated, and thereupon became practically a State department for the superintendence of the trade and manufactures of London. Long before their incorporation, the Gilds had held the sites of their halls and almshouses and other real property, houses, shops, and ware- houses. The tenure in time became " free burgage." An incidence of this tenure, and an important one as regards the Companies, was that it supplied the means of going beyond licences in mortmain. By the custom of the City, public bodies could accept lands held by citizens in free burgage and devised to them while so held without any limitation as to amount. The Companies appear to have become large purchasers of lands under the fiction of holding them by devise in free burgage. A Company found the money, and had the land purchased and conveyed to trustees in trust to convey it to some one person in trust to devise it to the Company by his will. The association then obtained the pur- chased land under the will of the nominee of their nominees. Legacies for religious and benevolent purposes, some internal, some external, were early bequeathed to the Gilds. Their large trust-estate dates from the fourteenth century. It for some time constituted, in conjunction with the monastic and parochial endowments of the City, an organization of eleemosynary and educational charity, which was of great importance in the absence of a poor law. By their charters, and also by grants from the Municipality of London, between the Crown and which there was much jealousy, the Companies obtained (i) monopolies, and (2) powers of search. They assumed to prevent non-members from trading and manufacturing, and they visited shops, manufactories, and houses for the purpose of testing wares, which were required by Act of Parliament, municipal precepts, or their own private regulations, to be of a certain standard or quality. They also enforced a strict system of seven years' apprenticeship. As regards powers conferred by statute upon the Companies or at present exercised by them by virtue of custom or in reliance on the terms of their charters : i The Fishmongers, relying on their charters, but without authority GENERAL INTRODUCTION. of any statute, appoint and pay "fish meters," who attend at Billingsgate Market, examine the fish offered for sale there, and condemn any which may be proved to be unsound. The Company defrays the expense of deodorizing and removing the fish thus condemned. It also dis- charges the duty of prosecuting offenders against the provisions of the " Fisheries (Oyster, Crab, and Lobster) Act," 40 & 41 Viet, c. 42, with respect to the sale of undersized fish or of fish during close time. 2. The Goldsmiths, under the acts 12 Geo. II., c. 26 (an act obtained at the instance of the Company themselves) and 7 & 8 Viet., c. 22, were till recently empowered to assay and mark plate, and to prosecute persons who in any part of England sold plate requiring to be marked which is below standard, or who forge the Company's marks or utter wares bearing counterfeit marks. Also under the Coinage Act of 1870 provision is made for an annual trial of the pyx ; and this trial, in accordance with a practice which has prevailed since the reign of Edward I., takes place at Goldsmiths' Hall. 3. The freemen of the Vintners who have become such by patrimony or by apprenticeship, and the widows of such freemen, enjoy by custom the right of selling foreign wines without a licence throughout England on certain ancient highways. They also, by virtue of an ancient custom, employ a staff of tackle porters, who unload wines at the London Docks. The Vintners' and Dyers' Companies are by ancient custom associated with the Crown as joint protectors of the swans of the Thames. 4. The Apothecaries have powers under the Apothecaries Act, 1815, and the Apothecaries Act Amendment Act, 1874, to examine candi- dates for licences to practise as apothecaries, to confer such licences, and to recover penalties from persons so practising without licence. They also maintain extensive chemical and pharmaceutical laboratories in connexion with their hall, and keep up a botanical garden in Chelsea, in respect of which they employ a botanical demonstrator to give instruction in botany. 5. The Founders' Company stamps weights under the acts 5 & 6 Will. IV., c. 63, and 41 & 42 Viet, c. 49, s. 67. 6. The Gun makers have a proof house in London, and have powers under the Gun Barrel Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Viet, c. 113), for enforcing the proving and marking of guns, pistols, and small arms, and the prosecution of offenders against the act 7. The Scriveners, under the act 41 Geo. III., c. 69, s. 13, conduct an examination for admission to the office of a notary, and can prevent any person practising as such who has not passed such examination. 8. The Stationers, who are exclusively craftsmen, have kept a register of all publications, since 1557; and this is legal evidence under the GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 71 Copyright Act of 1842, although the entry is not compulsory. The register from 1557 to 1640 has been printed. This Company also carries on in its corporate capacity the trade of a publisher, its principal publications, however, at present being Almanacks. The attendance at Bartholomew and Southwark fairs of representa- tives or members of some of the Companies was in some instances not discontinued till a comparatively recent time ; and, besides those chartered or customary functions which we have just mentioned, there were privileges, such as the charge of the City Beam by the Grocers' Company, and the superintendence of Blackwell Hall by the Drapers' Company, which were continued after the Gilds had ceased to represent the trade and commerce of London. The date at which they definitely ceased to do so may be fixed at the Restoration. London was during all this time a great manufacturing town, in or near which clothworking, the smelting of iron, the making of armour and bows, the working of silk and leather, the manufacture of the precious metals, and other minor industries were practised with much success. It was also the chief port of northern Europe, and as all the merchants of the Staple were members of the Gilds, and corresponded with the merchants of the Staple in the provincial towns and on the Continent, there can be little doubt that the halls of the Gilds were practically exchanges. The leading members seem also to have given advice to the Privy Council as to the mercantile policy of the Crown. Throughout the same period, the State and the Municipality sought to regulate, not only the manufactures and commerce of London, but also the wages, habits, and even the dress of the citizens to a degree not always consistent with personal liberty ; and this system of statutes and precepts was to a great extent administered through the agency of the Companies. Artisans and tradesmen who made or sold bad articles were tried by the wardens, and if found guilty were punished by the civic power, or occasionally by distresses levied by the Companies themselves. As early, however, as the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., the mediaeval theory of status as the basis of the relations of master and servant and of employer and employed was being gradually undermined as villeinage disappeared, and the Reformation began to make progress. The Gilds, which had their origin in an earlier conception of society, appear to have gradually excited the hostility of the artisans of London, who naturally viewed the monopolies and other privileges obtained from the Crown with jealousy, as they were apt to be beneficial to a limited number or a favoured grade. The constitution of the Gilds was only suited to a limited area, to the inspection of factories and shops in one 72 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. street or one quarter, so that the spread of London beyond its walls and the growth of the great suburbs, particularly those of Westminster and Southwark, must have seriously interfered with their efficiency as superintendents of production. The later charters generally extend the local limits of the trade control, in order to meet this difficulty. These causes tended to cripple the Gilds in the capacity of a State department and municipal committee. Yet they continued to receive charters at the beginning of every reign for a long time after this date. Indeed, some were founded, both in London and in the provinces, as late as the time of Anne ; and the term of apprenticeship sanc- tioned by the London and provincial Gilds, viz. seven years, was adopted in an act of 1662, which was not repealed till 1814. For a long time, however, after the seventeenth century, these bodies were an important element in the City. The wealthy bankers, mer- chants, and shipowners who traded in the City had houses there, and belonged to the Companies. The first quarter of the present century is the approximate date of the cessation of the residential connexion of the Companies with the City. Provincial and Continental Gilds. Turning now to (i) the provincial Gilds of England, (2) the Gilds of continental countries. I. It is certain that of the 40,000 communities which are alleged to have existed in the provincial towns and rural districts of England during the Middle Ages, only a very few survive. Many were of course monasteries, nunneries, or chauntries ; these were suppressed, and their lands confiscated, at the Reformation. Many, again, though not altogether clerical institutions — for instance, schools or hospitals — were so connected with the dissolved orders, or had so much property settled to superstitious uses, that they perished along with the monasteries. It does not appear that all the property of the Gilds in these towns was confiscated ; and there is evidence that one Company at least was allowed to redeem confiscated lands in the same way as the City Companies redeemed theirs. Their halls also are not likely to have been held to superstitious uses. In the histories of some of the old towns of England, an account, though not a full one, is to be found of their early Gilds. We may take the cases of (i) Bristol, (2) Coventry, (3) Newcastle-on-Tyne, (4) Norwich, (5) York. In these five places there existed upwards of 150 Gilds, corporations in every way resembling the London Companies, and some of them, GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 73 such as the Merchants' Company of York, the Merchant Adventurers' Company of Newcastle, the Merchant Adventurers' Company of Bristol, and the Gild of St. George of Norwich, bodies of great dignity and opulence. These and the rest have disappeared, except the Merchant Adventurers' Company of Newcastle, the Merchant Adventurers' Com- pany of Bristol, which has, at this day, a large amount of house-property at Clifton, and a few insignificant Companies containing only a few members. There are historical traces of the existence of many of these bodies down to a period long after the Reformation, and indeed till the present century ; of sales by them of their halls ; of transferences of their alms- houses ; and of sales of their estates, particularly houses, as the number of members decreased. We assume that the surviving members divided the proceeds of these sales, as there can be no doubt that they were entitled to do, unless they held the property subject to some trust. A similar course has been taken in London in the cases of Serjeants' Inn, Doctors' Commons, Clement's Inn, Barnard's Inn, and Staple Inn. So too the few surviving members of the Fullers' Gild at Newcastle obtained an order from the Master of the Rolls to divide the remaining property and dissolve the association. But many corporations, which were trustees of charities, appear to have dissolved themselves without making provision for the future maintenance of their charities. It seems not improbable that some of the London Gilds may have taken a similar course. At the time of the revival of the Needlemakers' Company, the number of members had become very small, and, but for the influx of new members, the survivors might have divided the assets. But we have not met with any actual proof of a London Company so doing. 2. The Royal Commission obtained information, through the Foreign Office and otherwise, as to the history of the Gilds of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and Turkey. Two learned archaeologists, M. Pigeonneau, Professor at the Sorbonne, and M. Levasseur, of the French Institute, sent interesting communi- cations on the subject of the French Gilds. These gentlemen, like -the English and German antiquaries, adopt the classification of the mediaeval Companies into Merchant Gilds, of which they choose the Parisian Company of Mercers as an example, and Craft Gilds. We learn from them that all such bodies in France were suppressed during the third year of the Revolution, 1791. They had existed from a period prior to the twelfth century. They were reorganized by Colbert in 1673, and 74 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. their suppression was attempted by Turgot, during his short ministry in 1776. They were very numerous. At the Revolution, fifty still existed in Paris. They possessed halls, almshouses, and chapels, but not much other real property. Their funds consisted chiefly of accumu- lations of dues and fines, and during the eighteenth century they had become impoverished. At their suppression, their property was devoted to State purposes ; but compensation was in some instances paid to existing members. Patrimony appears to have entered, though to a limited extent, into their constitution. In Belgium the Gilds were suppressed, and their property con- fiscated in 1794. In the Netherlands the trade Gilds were suppressed in 1798 ; their property was vested in commissioners. In 1820 the municipalities were directed to sell the property and hold it in trust for the relief of indigent members and of the poor of the communes. In Switzerland many of the trade Gilds still exist under the names of " abbayes " or " ziinfte," and have — especially, it is believed, at Berne — considerable real property. Some have been dissolved, either dividing the estate among the survivors, or applying it to public purposes, particularly education. In Germany, under the " Gewerbe-Ordnung " of 1869, an act depriv- ing the ancient Gilds of their privileges, placing them under communal or State control, and rendering them incapable of acquiring land with- out the consent of the communal authority, these bodies began rapidly to disappear. An act of 1878 reversed the policy of the " Gewerbe-Ordnung," and in 1881 one was passed for the encouragement of the Gilds. They have now power "to create industrial schools, to make rules for advancing the technical education of masters and journeymen, to establish a system of examinations, to create tontine and sick and invalid funds, and to appoint tribunals of arbitration." In Austria-Hungary the « Innungen " (Trade Gilds) were abolished, and their monopolies repealed, by a law of 1859. The act establishes in their stead " Genossenschaften," local bodies representing the master- manufacturers and the journeymen — apparently trade-councils and tribunals of arbitration, and having in some cases technical schools attached to them. The act provides for the sale of the halls of the "Innungen" and for the payment of the proceeds, after settlement of the debts of the suppressed bodies, to the Genossenschaften. In Norway and Sweden the old trade corporations, which are described as having been a serious drawback to the development of the native industries, were dissolved in 1846. In Italy, the ancient Gilds, with a few exceptions, were abolished GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 75 during the present century, prior to the union of the Kingdom. In 1878 and 1879 acts were passed abolishing all monopolies ; but pro- vision is made for the regulation of certain trades by the municipalities and for "institutions of mutual assistance," i.e. benefit societies, in connexion with such trades. In Spain many of the mediaeval Craft Gilds (Gremios) still exist. Their rules as to apprenticeship were cancelled in 1836; but they were not dissolved, and still survive as benefit societies and trade councils. They possess halls or houses of meeting, but no other real property. In Portugal the Craft Gilds were suppressed in 1834. They appear to have possessed little real property. In Russia and Turkey, there are at the present day many institutions resembling the Craft Gilds of the Middle Ages. In all these countries the Gilds seem to have been much more exclusively associations of members of trades than was ever the case with the London Companies. There appear to have been always three grades of membership of the London Livery Companies: (i) mere membership, the possession of the Freedom, which makes a freeman or freewoman ; (2) member- ship of what is called the Livery ; (3) a place on the Court or governing body. The Freedom has been from time immemorial obtainable in four ways: (i) by apprenticeship or servitude; (2) by patrimony; (3) by redemption ; (4) by gift. The last is purely honorary. A system of apprenticeship was an essential element in the Gilds from which the Companies sprang. After their incorporation, the term of service, the premium, and the status and duties of apprentices, were regulated by bye-laws framed by the Courts, and submitted by them (i) to the judges, (2) to the Municipality. The youths were articled on these terms as apprentices to freemen for a period of seven years, at the expiration of which, upon proof that they had duly served their masters during the seven years, they became entitled to the Freedom of the Company. Two ceremonies were involved in this method of admission : (i) that of binding ; (2) that of conferring the Freedom at the expiration of the articles. Each took place at the hall of the Company, or, if the Company had not a hall, at the Guildhall, a name which is itself a memorial of the importance of the Gilds of London in early times. The father or guardian of the apprentice paid the Company a nominal fee and some small sums to the officers and servants in respect of the binding ; and when the apprentice was admitted to the Freedom, he also paid a nominal fee to the Company, and some small sums to the officers and servants in respect of his admission. 76 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Of patrimony we have already spoken. Every son or daughter of a person who has been duly admitted to the Freedom has always been entitled to claim, when of age, his or her admission to the Freedom upon proof of (i) his or her legitimacy, (2) the membership of his or her father at the time of his or her birth. The ceremony of admission took place at the hall of the Company, or at the Guildhall, and the novice paid an entrance fee and small charges of about the same amount as in the case of admission by apprenticeship. It was far more usual for sons to follow their fathers' occupations during the Middle Ages than it is at present ; but Gilds into which members were admitted by patrimony must always have contained persons of no occupation, or of occupations different from those from which the Gilds derived their names. Apprenticeship also seems to have been by no means confined to the trades of the Gilds. From an early period a practice prevailed of bestowing the freedom on persons who had been bound to any of the members, irrespective of their callings. Such bindings were foreign to the ordinances of most of the Gilds, and involved an infringement of the rights of the Gilds which represented the trades, if any, of the apprentices. Also from an early period purely colourable bindings were allowed ; that is, youths were bound as a matter of form to persons whose trades they did not mean to follow, and who undertook no obli- gations in respect of their protection or education, in order that they might on coming of age be able to claim the Freedom of the Com- panies of their nominal masters. This colourable apprenticeship was no wrong, it being one of the modes of admission, and enabled a man of moderate means to obtain for his son a position in the Company, which otherwise he would not have been able to do, and which might be to his advantage in after life. It must be remembered that this has been the custom of centuries. The Freedom has been (i) sold, (2) conferred, like that of the City, as an honour upon personages of distinction, from a very early period. The former method of admission is called admission by redemption ; the latter, admission honoris causa. Redemption does not at present exist in the Grocers' Company, but does so (with a limitation to mem- bers of the trade in those few Companies which still have a trade, such as the Apothecaries and the Stationers) in all the others. The Court is and has for centuries been the admitting authority both to the Freedom and the Livery. The entrance-fee paid in respect of admission to the Freedom by redemption seems to have always varied with the civic and general standing of the several Companies. At present the maximum seems to be about ioS/. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 77 Above the mere freemen and freewomen have always been the members of the Livery, those who, as it was technically expressed, had the clothing of the brotherhood. They were cither (i) craftsmen, employers of labour ; or (2) non craftsmen, persons of some wealth and position, who had joined the Company by patrimony or by purchase. From very early times down to the present day the Court of Alder- men, in the exercise of a sort of visiting jurisdiction, has claimed the right of authorizing the Companies to organize a Clothing or Livery ; two terms which custom made synonymous, but of which the latter was originally tantamount only to the delivery of the Gild suit. By an act of the Court of Aldermen, dated July 27, 1697, it is enacted "that no person shall be allowed to take upon himself the clothing of any of the twelve Companies unless he have an estate of i,ooo/., of the inferior Companies unless he have an estate of 5oo/." ; and the spirit of this property qualification is still generally observed. ••' On admission to the Livery, larger fees are payable than in the case of admission to the Freedom. A distinction is always made between the case of persons who have entered by patrimony or by servitude and that of persons who have entered by purchase, the latter class being compelled to pay far higher for the new privilege. In addition to the fees and fines, each freeman and liveryman has always paid quarterly to the common purse a quarterage or quarterwage. It is estimated that there are about 7,300 liverymen altogether, and about 1,500 of these constitute the respective Courts. The Courts consisted originally of the founders. As vacancies took place by death, these persons elected members of the Liveries to fill them. The Courts at an early stage consisted of a master or prime warden, and two or more other wardens, and a number of " assistants." 1 At the present day the governing bodies are called the Courts of Assistants. A new member, on election by co-optation, generally took office as renter-warden, an onerous position. He was promoted from wardenship to wardenship till he became prime warden or master. After having "passed the chair" he became an ordinary Assistant for life. At nearly all the steps a fee or fine was charged. At the present time the system is similar, and most of the Assistants have served as wardens, and have passed the chair. 1 "Assistants are to be traced in the councils of twelve of the Saxon Gilds, and in the eschemns and elders of the Norman era. The first hint of them in t Companies occurs in the records of the Grocers, under the year 1379. ^ were chosen to aid the wardens in the discharge of their duties."—//*' Companies, vol. i., p. 53. 78 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. The fees payable in respect of the several promotions are consider- able. A person joining a prominent London Company as a livery- man by purchase might, in his progress from the position of a mere freeman to the mastership, have to pay 2OO/., or even upwards of 3OO/. in fees and fines. The numbers of the Courts vary from about twelve to between thirty and forty. The privileges which the members of the City Companies at present possess, apart from their position as voters on the municipal register of London, are as follow : I. Freemen and freewomen (of the latter of whom, however, there are now scarcely any), and the widows and orphans of freemen, are entitled in case of poverty and in old age (i) to be received into the almshouses of the Companies which have almshouses ; (2) to pensions and casual relief out of the trust funds which have been left to the Companies for that purpose. They are also commonly relieved out of the Companies' corporate income. The charters granted frequently refer to the relief of the poor members of the Gilds in such way as to shew that a main object of the grant of power to hold land in mortmain was the maintenance of aims- houses. For instance, the preamble of the Mercers' charter is as follows : " In consideration that several men of the mystery of mercery of the City of London often by misfortunes of the sea and other unfortunate casualties have become so impoverished and destitute that they have little or nothing in consequence to subsist on unless from the alms and assistance of the faithful." The Grocers' charter grants to the wardens and commonalty of the mystery that they may "acquire lands " in the City and its suburbs " to the value of twenty marks per year, to have and hold to them and their successors towards///*? support of the poor men of the said commonalty'' The Fishmongers' charter similarly con- tains a grant of power to hold land "for the sustcntation of the poor men and women of the said commonalty'' The Goldsmiths' charter recites that " many persons of that trade by fire and the smoke of quicksilver had lost their sight ; and that others of them by working in that trade became so crazed and infirm that they were disabled to subsist but of relief from others ; and that divers of the said City, compassionating the condition of such, were disposed to give and grant divers tenements and rents in the said City to the value of twenty pounds per annum to the Company of the said craft towards the maintenance of the said blind, weak, and infirm'' Some of the charters do not contain clauses of this benevolent kind ; but during this period a religious or benevolent object may generally be presumed as regards mortmain lands. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 79 All the great and several of the small Companies have endowed alms- houses. Originally, in many cases, the almshouses adjoined the halls ; nearly all were within the City or its liberties. But as the value of building land in the City has rapidly increased during the present century, the Companies have sometimes found it profitable to let the sites of these foundations for the construction of warehouses and offices, and to rebuild the almshouses on less expensive sites in other parts of London or in the country. The trust-funds for their support and the relief of poor members, their widows and orphans, are very ample, and often partly consist of contributions from the corporate income. As a rule, a claim to relief in case of poverty is the only privilege which the possession of the mere freedom of a Company confers. In a single case, that of the Clothworkers, the almspeople are invited to an entertainment. In that Company, also, and in two or three others, the freemen are enabled to educate their children on advantageous terms, owing to admissions to Christ's Hospital, which some of the Companies have bought for the purpose, and to the Companies' own schools. The privileges of liverymen as regards charitable relief are similar to those of freemen ; but the pensions voted to them and their widows and orphans are larger. They have also generally a legal right to a place at those banquets which are chartered franchises, and they are invited by the Courts as a matter of favour to other entertainments, sometimes, in the more opulent Companies, to two or three banquets in the course of a year, f In most of the Companies, when a liveryman petitions successfully for relief from the trust or corporate funds, he has to resign his position on the Livery, and has the amount of his livery- fine returned to him. The pensions voted to decayed liverymen, their widows and orphans, vary, according to the wealth of the Companies, from 5o/. to I5O/. a year. There are a few Companies, the Iron- mongers and Joiners, and for some purposes the Mercers and Coopers, in which the Livery (and not merely the master wardens and assistants) constitute the governing body. The Courts have in their hands, as a rule, the entire control of the Companies' affairs, the appointment of the staffs of salaried officials which the Companies employ, the management of the Companies' corporate property, the admissions to the Freedom, Livery, and Court, the administration of the Companies' charitable trusts, the appoint- ments of the incumbents of livings and of the masters of schools. They are also the entertainers, and have, as of course, a place at all the Companies' banquets. In the great Companies a member of the Livery is seldom elected to the Court till he has been on the Livery for fifteen or twenty years ; but seniority is not the sole criterion 80 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. of fitness. Regard appears to be paid to social position, business capacity, and interest in the charities of the Companies. Also in some of the Companies a liveryman is at once promoted to the Court on his election as an Alderman. Members of the Courts, their widows and orphans, are, like freemen and liverymen, eligible for pensions and charitable relief out of the trust and corporate funds of the Companies in case of poverty. The highest pensions commonly voted to such persons amount to 2OO/. The average amount is from 5O/. to loo/. Formerly it was not necessary for a member of the Court to retire on making an application for a pension. But at present the same course is followed as in the case of liverymen ; the applicants are removed from the Court, and their fees are returned to them. With rare exceptions, all the proceedings of the Courts are secret. Their accounts are not published, and the liverymen and freemen have not access to the records of their proceedings. The substitution of the Companies for the wards as divisions of the Municipality of London lasted only a few years in a very early epoch. The householders in the wards, being freemen of the City, are now and have always been, except during this short interval, the electors to the courts of Aldermen and of Common Council respectively. But till 1835 the Freedom of the City could only be obtained through a Livery Company. In that year the Municipality of London decided to confer it irrespective of the Companies on certain terms through the City Chamberlain. But the freemen of the Companies have still the right to claim as such the Freedom of the City; and it is not uncommon for them to pay the City fee to the officers of the Company, on joining, for pay- ment over to the Chamberlain. On promotion to the Livery, this is still more usual. However, since 1835, the Freedom of a Company and the Freedom of the City have not been convertible terms ; and so far back as 1837 the Corporation possessed a very slight, hardly more than a nominal, control over the Companies. This control was due to the "Common Hall," which consists of those liverymen of the Companies who are also freemen of the City. It still proposes to the Court of Aldermen two Aldermen, one of whom the Court elects Lord Mayor, and itself elects the Sheriffs, the Chamberlain, the Bridgemaster, and the auditors of the City and Bridge-House accounts. The election of the Lord Mayor takes place on September 29, that of the other officers on Midsummer Day. ^ Prior to the Reform Bill (2 Will. IV., c. 45), the liverymen of the Common Hall constituted the parliamentary constituency of London. Every voter had to be a freeman of the City and a liveryman of a Company. The Reform Bill preserves the franchises of the liverymen GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 8 I in conjunction with those of the ordinary electors, with the limitation that, in order to vote as a liveryman, it is necessary to have taken up the freedom of the City prior to March i, 1831, or to have obtained it subsequently by servitude or by patrimony through a qualified person, and also to have been resident within seven miles of the Mansion House for the six months preceding registration. In addition to the vote in Common Hall and the parliamentary suffrage, those members of the Companies who have become free of the City possess the other rights of citizens. These were formerly much more important than they now are ; but even at the present day none except freemen can claim the benefit of the custom of the City of London. The part played by the leading Companies in early times in civic pageants is well known. The ceremony of inauguration formerly took place on October 29, or if that fell on a Sunday, on the 3Oth. Lord Mayor's Day is now celebrated on November 9. The Companies to which the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs belong usually join in the procession ; and the former for the time being takes precedence over all the others. Number of Members. There is great difficulty in forming an estimate of the number of freemen. They are often never heard of after they have taken out their freedom. They change their residences and cease to pay quarterage, when their names are erased from the lists. Sometimes, years after this has been done, the Companies are reminded of their existence by a claim to charitable relief. It seems not improbable that there may be 10,000 freemen altogether. There are perhaps upwards of 1,000 connected with the Goldsmiths and Drapers re- spectively. The number of those belonging to the other great Companies is much smaller. Some of the minor Companies are in point of numbers and wealth equal to the less opulent of the great Companies. Such are the Armourers, Carpenters, Leathersellers, Brewers, Saddlers, and Cutlers. The Companies named in the Second Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into Municipal Corporations in England and Wales are eighty-nine in number, twelve great Companies, severity- seven minor Companies. Out of these latter1 thirteen proved to 1 These were the Companies of Combmakers, Fishermen, Gardeners, Hat-band Makers, Longbow String Makers, Paviours, Pinmakers, Silk Weavers, Silk Throwsters, Soapmakers, Starchmakers, Tobacco-pipe Makers, and Woodmongers. The names of some supposed members of these Companies were discovered by reference to C.C. 6 32 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. have become extinct since the date of the Report, while four l turned out not to be Livery Companies. The Needlemakers, Basketmakers, Turners, Shipwrights, and Fanmakers, the charter of the last of which was recently recovered by accident, have been resuscitated of late years. Two of the largest liveries are those of the Loriners and Spectacle- makers, bodies membership of which appears to entail little advantage beyond the municipal and parliamentary franchises. So far as the number of votes is concerned, the Loriners stand at the head of all the Gilds in the regulation lists of 1891, and appear to have always occupied a prominent rank in this respect. The liverymen, from whom the members of the Courts are selected, are a body consisting chiefly of persons following professions, persons engaged in commerce, or persons who have retired from business. A considerable number are men of some eminence. Many members of the House of Commons are liverymen. The City is represented by the Aldermen, most of whom belong to several Companies, and the Common Councilmen. The Courts consist, speaking generally, of liverymen of some fifteen years' standing, mostly promoted according to seniority. We have observed too, that admission by patrimony produces a natural effect on the constitution of the Liveries and on that of the Courts. Where a family continues prosperous from generation to generation, it acquires a position of . considerable importance on the Court and Livery of a Company. A remarkable instance is that of the Mercers' Company, the Court of which is recruited from a Livery of ninety-seven, on which certain families are represented by as many as nine or ten members. It cannot be of any real importance whether the Courts be composed of ten, twenty, thirty, or forty members, when their sur- roundings and social positions are considered. It must be remembered that every liveryman aspires to attain the Court, and that to enable a fair proportion of the Livery to do this, it is absolutely necessary that the Courts be large. It may also be pointed out that each member has paid a sum according to the status of his Company for his seat, and that he does not reach this till he is far advanced in life, that some die before and some soon after their election on the Court, before they the City registers, and communications were sent to these persons with a view to discovering the circumstances under which the Companies had been wound up, and what had taken place with respect to the property, if any, remaining at the date of the dissolution. We did not in any case receive an answer to these communica- tions. The Paviours' Company has left some papers deposited in the Guildhall Library, and these we caused to be examined. No reference was, however, found in them to the circumstances under which the Company had been dissolved. 1 These were the Carmen, the Fellowship-Porters, the Parish Clerks, and the Watermen and Lightermen. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 83 have received even a return of the fines and fees paid by them to their Company. Although only 1,500 of the Livery out of a total of about 20,000 liverymen and freemen are members of the Courts of the Companies at any one time, each qualified liveryman and freeman in rotation, if life allowed, would become a member. The whole of the remaining 18,500 members have a vested interest in the properties of the Com- panies, and enjoy advantages and privileges as such. There is no evidence, and not even a suggestion, of a contemplated payment of any dividend or of any misappropriation or division of the funds ; and nothing of the sort could legally take place without the consent of each and every member, be he liveryman or be he freeman. Three great events have exercised an important influence on the history of the Companies ; viz. (i) the Reformation, (2) the Fire of London, (3) the Plantation of Ulster.1 (1) In the course of the suppression of the religious houses, many lands held by the Companies to superstitious uses, such as the per- formance of masses for the dead and the maintenance of chauntries, were confiscated. The Companies were, however, allowed to redeem the lands, on a representation that they were required for the purposes of the eleemosynary and educational chanties of which they were trustees. (2) The halls, almshouses, and house property of the Companies suffered severely in the Fire of 1666. Its effects for a time greatly impoverished them, and large sums were raised by the governing bodies for rebuilding. In many cases they were never restored. (3) At the time of the colonization of Ulster certain of the Com- panies united to purchase and undertake the settlement of a large tract of country in the county of Londonderry. The growth of the great municipal estate, which is hereinafter described, may be traced down from the twelfth century. The Com- panies have been purchasers of land in the City of London and elsewhere, and many hundreds of legacies of land, or of money to be converted into land, have been left to them for charitable purposes. Their wealth has probably increased with each century ; but the chief increase has taken place during the present one, as a consequence of the recent rise in the value of house-property in the City of London 1 Long before this movement on the part of the Crown in 1608, Robert Payne, a surveyor and land-agent, and twenty-five partners, undertook a settlement of land; in Ireland, subsequently to the so-called pacification in Elizabeth's reign under Sir George Carew; and another of the company published an account of the good success of the project, in order to encourage colonists, in 1589. 84 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Within the next twenty years the lapse of old leases will still further tend to augment the aggregate. On the whole, we estimate the trust and corporate income of the Companies for 1879-80 as between 75o,ooo/. and 8oo,ooo/., a sum ex- ceeding the income of the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and of the colleges therein at the time when a Royal Commission in- quired into these learned bodies. Taking the real property at a number of years' purchase, which we are informed cannot be excessive, and the income of their personal property as representing an ordinary percentage on the capital, we are of opinion that the capital value of the Companies' property cannot be less than fifteen millions sterling. The income arising from this property is partly (i.) corporate income ; (ii.) trust income ; i.e. income which the Companies or their Courts are bound to apply in accordance with (a) the wills of founders, (b} Acts of Parliament, (c) the decrees of the High Court of Justice, and (d) schemes framed by the Charity and Endowed Schools Commissions. The following list shews the income of the great Companies in order of civic precedence and of the minor Companies in alphabetical order, as it was returned in 1882; and it is (with very few exceptions) sub- stantially the same at present. We should state that the balance in hand at the beginning of each financial year is excluded, as not being income. Such sum is considerable ; and we have made an addition to the corporate income, which may be supposed approximately to represent the annual interest thereupon. GREAT COMPANIES. Income (for 1879-80) Corporate. Trust. £ £ £ Mercers . 82,758 47,34i 35,4i7 Grocers . 38,236 37,736 500 Drapers . 78,654 50,141 28,513 Fishmongers • 50,713 46,913 3,800 Goldsmiths • 54,297 43,505 10,792 Skinners . . 28,927! 18,977 9,95o Merchant Taylors 31,243 12,068 Haberdashers . 29,032 9,032 20,000 Salters . 21,040 18,892 2,148 Ironmongers . 21,647 9,625 12,822 Vintners . 10,887 9,365 1,522 Clothworkers . • - 50,4583 40,458 10,000 1 In 1891 the income, according to Whitaker, was 39,ooo/. 2 In 1891, 5o,ooo/. s in ^91, 55,0007. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. The rateable value of the halls of these Companies is about 35,ooo/., that of their schools and almshouses is probably about I5,ODO/. The value of their plate and furniture is approximately about 270,0007. The annual income of the livings in their gift is about 12,000!. a year. MINOR COMPANIES. Income. Corporate Income. Trust Income. £ £ £ Apothecaries .... 3,898 3,398 500 Armourers .... 8,086 8,026 60 Bakers 1,911 1,591 320 Barbers I,720l 1,120 600 Basket-makers .... 61 61 None. Blacksmiths .... 684 684 None. Bowyers .... 590 550 40 Brewers 1 8,640 3,157 15,482 Broderers No return. — 70(?) Butchers ..... 2,021 1,389 632 Carpenters .... 11,318 10,378 940 Clockmakers .... — — — Coachmakers . 1,179 1,179 None. Cooks ...... 2,560 2,380 1 80 Coopers ..... 7,120 2,420 4,700 Cordwainers .... 7,754' 6,154 1, 600 Curriers ..... 1,295 1,245 50 Cutlers 5,387 5,337 50 Distillers No return. — — Dyers .... 7,000 6,000 1,000 Fanmakers 2503 250 None. Farriers * 240 240 None. Feltmakers 362 172 190 Fletchers . i5o4 150 None. Founders . i,943 i,853 90 Framework Knitters 3io5 1 80 130 Fruiterers . , 470 467 3 Girdlers 4,306 2,932 1,374 Glass-sellers 190 IOO 90 Glaziers . 300 260 40 Glovers . • • 150 150 None. Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers 65 62 3 Gunmakers 2,565 2,565 None. 1 Jn 1891, 2,6oo/. 4 In 1891, ioo/. In 1891, 9,3007. 3 In 1891, so/. In 1891, 44Q/. 86 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Income. Corporate Income. Trust Income. £ £ £ Homers . IOO IOO None. Innholders 1,547 1,327 220 1,312 1,312 None. " *J Leathersellers . 18,728 16,395 2,333 Loriners . 1,267 1,267 None. Masons 4001 400 None. Musicians 400 400 None. Needlemakers . 250 250 None. Painters . 3,100 800 2,300 Patten-makers . 300 286 H Pewterers 3,850 3,610 240 Plaisterers 900 867 33 Playingcard-makers . 50 50 None. Plumbers ' . 900 882 18 Poulters 1,050 620 430 Saddlers . n,243 10,243 1,000 Scriveners 856 846 10 Shipwrights 833 833 None. Spectacle-makers 1,^34 1,089 45 Stationers 4,746 3,i7o 1,576 Tallow Chandlers No return. 220 Tinplate Workers No return. 37 Turners .... 718 718 None. Tylers and Bricklayers 834 664 170 Upholders 353 333 20 Wax Chandlers 1,005 2 i,375 230 Weavers .... No return. 360 Wheelwrights . 319 319 None. Wool men 300 300 None. The rateable value of the halls of the minor Companies is about 2O,ooo/. a year ; that of their almshouses, schools, etc., is about 3,ooo/. a year. The value of their plate and furniture is approximately about 5O,ooo/. Their ecclesiastical patronage is limited to one or two Com- panies which appoint to preacherships. It will be noticed that there is great disparity in the amount of the trust incomes of the Companies. In some cases it is nominal or even nothing. The strongest instances are those of (i) the Grocers' Company, the trust income of which is 5oo/. out of a total income of 38,ooo/. ; (2) the Armourers' Company, the trust income of which is 1 In 1891, 5507. 2 In 1891, ij>6oo/. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 87 6o/. out of a total income of 8,ooo/. Other, though less striking, examples are those of (i) the Fishmongers' Company, the trust income of which is 3,8oo/. out of a total income of upwards of 5O,ooo/. ; (2) the Leathersellers' Company, the trust income of which is 2,3OO/., out of a total income of nearly I9,ooo/. ; (3) the Saddlers' Company, the trust income of which is about i,ooo/. out of a total income of upwards of I i,ooo/. On the other hand, the trust incomes of the two wealthiest Companies, the Mercers' Company and the Drapers' Company, are respectively above one-third and two-fifths of the total income : in the case of the Mercers' Company 35,ooo/. out of 83,ooo/. ; in that of the Drapers' Company 28,000!. out of 79,ooo/. Also in several cases the trust income greatly exceeds the corporate income. Thus (i) the trust income of the Haberdashers' Company is probably 20,000!. out of a total income of 3O,ooo/. ; (2) the trust income of the Brewers' Company is 16,000!. out of a total income of 20,000!. ; (3) the trust income of the Painter- stainers' Company is 3,ooo/. out of a total income of 4,000!. ; (4) the trust income of the Ironmongers' Company is 12,000!. out of a total income of 2i,ooo/. The above table also shews that some of the minor Companies are not trustees of charities. These are the Basketmakers, Blacksmiths, Coachmakers, Fanmakers, Fletchers, Glovers, Gunmakers, Homers, Joiners, Loriners, Masons, Musicians, Needlemakers, Playingcard-makers, Shipwrights, Turners, Wheelwrights, and Woolmen. The total income of these eighteen Companies is, however, only about 8,ooo/. a year ; and several of them, particularly the Loriners and Spectacle-makers, the recently resuscitated Companies of Turners, Needlemakers, Fanmakers, and Shipwrights, as well as a few others, chiefly depend on the fees and fines paid by existing members. On the whole, of the sum of from 75o,ooo/. to 8oo,ooo/. which constitutes the annual income of the Companies, (i) about 200,000!. a year may be trust income, (2) from 55o,ooo/. to 6oo,ooo/. corporate income. As to the trust-estate of the Companies, it supports upwards of a thousand charities ; and the authorities in 1882-3 were of opinion that no charities in England were better administered. As regards both classes of property, not only did financial difficulties continue down to a comparatively recent date, but the income pro- bably did not become considerable till about 1830, when a large number of building leases in the City fell in, and it became possible for the Gilds to raise the ground-rents so as to participate in its increased value. The Irish estate of the Companies, in the purchase of which they sank in the reign of James I. about 6o,ooo/., exclusively of subsequent GENERAL INTRODUCTION. working expenses, did not become really remunerative till quite lately. Nothing can be more admirable than the conduct of the Companies with respect to these Ulster lands. They found them a desert, and by their care and munificence they have made them one of the most prosperous parts of the United Kingdom. Indeed, they may be said to have founded at their own expense the loyal province of Ulster, a service to the Crown perhaps without a parallel, except that rendered by the East India Company. In times past, the chief Companies always devoted a substantial portion of their funds to public objects ; and their expenditure upon such objects appears to have grown in proportion to the growth of their revenues. Thus, in 1822, the Goldsmiths, whose income was not then large, founded six exhibitions of 2O/. a year, three tenable at Oxford, three at Cambridge. The Company gradually increased the number and value of its exhibitions, till it had in 1882 endowed seventy-five exhibitions, each of the value of 5 at Witney, Oxfordshire,7 at Tottenham, in Essex,8 Sir John Gresham's school at Holt, Norfolk,9 a school at Cromer, in Norfolk,10 at Bromyard, in Herefordshire,11 at Stockport, Cheshire,12 at Ashwell Hertfordshire,13 at Wallingford, Oxfordshire,14 at Newport, Stafford- Founded Founded 1 1540 ; managed by the Coopers. 7 1670; managed by the Grocers. 2 1858, in pursuance of a scheme es- 8 1617; ditto Drapers. tablished by an order in 9 15545 ditto Fishmongers* Chancery. 10 1505; ditto Goldsmiths. 3 Managed by the Mercers. 11 1656 ; ditto ditto. Ditto ditto. 12 1487 ; ditto ditto. 5 1556 ; managed by the Grocers. 13 1655; ditto Merchant Taylors. 6 1612; ditto ditto. 14 1659 ; ditto ditto. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. shire,1 at Monmouth,2 at Bunbury, Cheshire/'5 at Landrakc, St. Krny, Cornwall,4 at Peel, in the Isle of Man,5 at Sutton Valence, Kent/'1 and at Isley Walton, Leicestershire.7 The number of children of both sexes who are educated at these schools was in 1882 upwards of 10,000. It will be seen from the returns of the Companies which manage them, as well as from the Reports of the Charity Commission and the inspectors of schools, that considerable sums have been voluntarily spent on them out of corporate income. Of the total sum of 75,ooo/. a year applicable to classical and middle- class education, including in the former category the contributions to the Universities, the proportions are about 35,ooo/. and 4O,ooo/. 3. Of the 5O,ooo/. a year, which forms the division of the trust income devoted to charitable objects of a general kind, about 9,ooo/. a year is applicable to the sustentation of primary schools under the management of clergymen of the Church of England in England and Wales ; 8 about 5,ooo/. is applicable to the relief of indigent blind persons ;9 the remaining 36,ooo/. a year (arising from nearly 500 legacies, bequeathed during a period commencing in the fourteenth and ending in the present century) is applicable (i) to the relief of the poor of the City of London by doles of money and food and gifts of clothing, to the relief by the same means of the poor of parishes outside the City, and of the poor of many urban and rural parishes throughout England ; (2) to clerical objects connected with the Church of England, such as lectureships of a general or special character at churches in the City, or in connexion with certain of the charitable institutions maintained by the Companies in the provinces ; and to annual subscriptions to medical charities, particularly the London hospitals. The reports of the Inspectors of Charities, which accompany the returns of 1884, contain detailed accounts of all the charities above- mentioned, setting forth the names of the founders, abstracts of the deeds or wills constituting the charitable trusts, the property which is charged therewith, and the mode in which the trusts are administered ; and where a private Act of Parliament has been obtained, the terms are set forth. In the numerous cases in which the Court of Chancery or the Charity or Endowed Schools Commissions have decreed new schemes, Founded, 1 1656 ; managed by the Haberdashers. 8 The Betton Chanty, founded 1723, 2 1614; ditto ditto. administered by the Ironmongers. 3 J594; ditto ditto. 9 The principal charities for this pur- 4 !703 ; ditto Ironmongers. pose were founded respectively 1717-24 5 1653; ditto Clothworkers. and 1790, 1795, 1808, 1860, and 1889, and 6 1876; ditto ditto. are administered by the Ciothworkers 7 1625 ; ditto Bowyers. and the Painterstainers. 96 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. the particulars are set forth. The amount of charitable property here involved is very considerable. We believe that, except in cases where the terms of the charitable bequests authorize the Companies to charge for administering them, or where the conditions of a new scheme expressly authorize them to do so, the Companies act gratuitously. Corporate Income. Including an allowance in respect of the Halls and other buildings used by the Companies, and of their plate, furniture, and other property not producing income, we estimate the corporate or non-trust income of the Companies at from 55O,ooo/. to 6oo,ooo/. a year. Taking the smaller sum as a basis, and deducting from it I25,ooo/., which may be taken to represent (i) such allowance, (2) a sum representing the interest of the debt of the Companies, and (3) a sum representing the average proportion of income saved annually, about 425,0007. remain to be accounted for. Of this sum we compute that about I75,ooo/. is annually spent on "maintenance," about ioo,ooo/. on entertainments, about 1 5o,ooo/. on benevolent objects. In maintenance we include sums spent in the payment of rates and taxes, in rebuilding, repairs, and other charges connected with the Halls, almshouses, schools, and other buildings and improvements, in the pay- ment of fees to the governing bodies for attendances, in the salaries of officers and servants employed in London and in Ireland. Of the I75,ooo/. thus spent, (i) about 75,ooo/. a year is spent on rates, taxes, rebuilding, repairs, and improvements ; (2) about 4O,ooo/. a year is paid to members, (3) about 6o,ooo/. a year is spent on the salaries of officers and servants. (1) Of the above-mentioned 75,ooo/., rates and taxes, which include the tithe rentcharge on the Ulster estates, form the least considerable item. A large proportion of the income derived from Ireland is annually spent on improvements, in which term are included not only drainage and farm buildings, but the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, and the support of places of worship, schools, and dispensaries for the use of the tenants. Part of the fund is expended on repairs and improvements in connexion with the urban and rural English estates of the Companies. The largest item, however, is that which is annually expended on the restoration and decoration of the Halls, thirty-four in number. In 1862, the Clothworkers rebuilt their Hall at a cost of £68,000. Several other bodies have taken the same course on a smaller scale. (2) Court fees are payments to such members for attendance at the GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 97 meetings for admissions to the freedom, calls to the Livery, elections to the Courts, appointment of officers and servants, management of the corporate and charitable estates, elections of almspeople and pensioners, superintendence of schools, invitations to entertainments, and the con- sideration of charitable offerings. The Courts of the chief Companies meet about once a month, those of the minor Companies about once a quarter. Where the business is large and complex, committees are appointed for special purposes. (3) A clerk and a beadle have been attached to each gild from time almost immemorial. As the estates have increased, a number of additional offices have been created, such as those of accountants, surveyors, and assistant clerks, and a staff of domestic servants has been engaged. Those of the Companies which retain their lands in Ulster have employed resident agents since they ceased to let to middlemen. The highest salaries paid to clerks amount to about 2,ooo/. a year. The salary next in amount is one of i,5OO/. a year. The clerks of most of the important Companies receive about 7OO/. a year. The salaries of those attached to the minor Companies are small ; some receive no stipend. The clerks are mostly solicitors, who in some cases are allowed to carry on a private practice at the Halls of the Companies which employ them or (their recompense being nominal) transact the Companies' business at their own offices. In a few instances, the same gentleman acts for two or even three bodies. There are, besides, the salaries of the masters of the Companies' schools, those of the governors, matrons, and medical officers of their almshouses, and those of the chaplains and clerical lecturers whom they employ in connexion with their charities. The entertainments given by the Companies are of two kinds : Court dinners and Livery dinners. Two or three banquets of the former kind are held annually in the more considerable Companies. In those of less importance not more than one Livery dinner is annually given ; and in some cases, owing to want of funds, the members of the Liveries are not entertained. It is the practice of most of the Companies to invite guests on these occasions. Royal personages, members of the reigning Continental houses, and pjersons of distinction generally, are frequently entertained by the Companies, which thus assist the Corporation in dispensing the hospitality of the City. Entertainments to persons of eminence are frequently preceded by the ceremony of conferring the freedom of the Gild, honoris causd. In many cases guests are also invited to its Court dinners. 4. The part of the corporate income which is devoted to public objects we estimate at I5o,ooo/. a year, of which about io,ooo/. is ex- c.c. 7 98 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. pended on the relief of poor members, in addition to the 75,ooo/. a year out of trust income. If to this sum be added the trust income of 2OO,ooo/. a year, it follows that about half the income is distributed between benefaction and public or benevolent objects. About 5o,ooo/. appears to be expended on education. 5. About 9O,ooo/. a year appears to be devoted to benevolent and public objects of a general character. Besides the contributions to churches, schools, and dispensaries in Ulster, the Companies subscribe largely to other Ulster charities, both religious and secular, and also have of late subsidized new railways by grants of land and loans. These sums taken together amount to a deduction from the rents greatly exceeding the sum commonly allowed for such purposes by private landlords. On their English estates the Companies generally support the religious and secular charities connected therewith. As regards London, where the bulk of their property is situated, they make annually a very large contribution, one probably amounting to 7o,ooo/. or 8o,ooo/., to public arid benevolent objects. The London Hospital, during the ten years 1869-79 received 26,5OO/. from the Grocers alone. The hospitals for special diseases, the dispensaries, and other medical charities, not only of the City, but in other parts of London, receive a very large sum annually. Religious charities and societies having for their object the building and endowment of churches and schools in connexion with the Church of England, secular objects, orphanages, refuges, and funds for the relief of distress, such as the poor-boxes at the Metropolitan Courts, are all supported by the Companies, which are large subscribers to the Mansion House Funds set on foot under special circumstances by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation. Of late also, and particularly since the movement in favour of technical education began, some of the Companies whose names represent existing trades, have given exhibitions at their Halls or elsewhere of works of art or of the processes of manufacture, and have become supporters of trade benefit-societies. Mode in which the Corporate Estate was Acquired. A large proportion of the lands in the City held by the Companies in their corporate right was acquired by them outside their licences in mortmain under the custom and tenure of free burgage, under wills constituting trusts for the maintenance of obits, chauntries, or for other superstitious uses. This land the Companies recovered from the Crown, at the time of the dissolution of monasteries, for valuable consideration, in the reigns of Edward VI. and James I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 99 The terms of the grants have been held by the Court of Chancery to have vested in the Companies the same absolute property in these lands which the act of Edward VI. vested in the Crown, and they have thus been since the Reformation in the eye of the law the corporate property of the Companies, free from any trust The lands were allowed to revert, because the Companies represented to the Crown that the rental was required for the support of their almshouses, schools, and exhibitions, many of which depended for their existence on these super- stitious benefactions. It appears that the Companies have not been always able to prove from their archives that the trust to purchase lands had ever been executed, and that they have been in the habit of simply crediting the charities with the annual interest of the sums originally bequeathed on this condition. The deeds and minutes of Court which perished in the Fire of 1666 might have thrown light on this matter. For the purpose of the repurchase of their forfeited estates, and of the rebuilding their Halls and house property after the Fire, and of the Ulster Plantation, the Companies raised very large sums of money between the years 1547 and 1670. The sum paid to the Crown in respect of the Irish estate seems to have been levied as a civic impost. It would seem that part of the money expended in re- building and redemption was raised by mortgage, part by the contri- butions of existing members, or members who were persuaded to join for the purpose of helping the Companies out of their difficulties. As regards the interpretation put by the Court of Chancery on wills, where the question has been whether the charities, or the Companies which administer them, were to become entitled to the increased income resulting from the rise in value of house property in the City, and also the schemes framed by that Court in accordance with the principle of $y-pres to which it has recourse in the case of obsolete or impracticable benefactions, it may be said that the function of a Court can only be accurately to interpret the terms of the wills and to carry out the founders' intentions ; and no doubt the rules as to interpretation adopted by the Court of Chancery are judicious, while, in framing $y-pres schemes, the Court has shown a wise and liberal spirit, and has done its utmost to recognise changes in the circumstances. But we think it impossible to pursue many of the cases without seeing that the Com- panies have made good their title to unexpected increment as corporate income when there was really an intestacy with respect to the fund, or under circumstances where there is no proof that the testator ever intended to constitute them beneficiaries. The corporate or private property and income of the Companies 100 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. have been declared by the highest legal authority to be as absolutely the Companies' own as those of any private person ; and we may refer to the circumstances under which this property was acquired, partly by purchases made out of the private incomes of the Companies, partly by gifts " intended to be for their absolute use : " to the public spirit shown by the Companies in past times and at present, in the good use which they have made of their incomes : in past times in saving their charities from bankruptcy and in the colonization of Ulster : at present in their support of useful objects and, in particular, in the establishment by them of technical education, a movement which has revived in the only way now possible the connexion of the Gilds with the arts and manufactures which they formerly represented. Their property being at law the Companies' own, the product partly of their own savings, partly of absolute gifts to them, and the income from it being in great part spent for the public good, we deprecate any State interference with this property or with the Companies in their administration of the income arising from it. As regards the trust-property of the Companies and the charities, above 1,000 in number, of which they are the gratuitous managers, under the control of the Court of Chancery and the Charity Com- mission, the existence of several great and many small schools and of eleemosynary foundations, in the benefits of which almost every county in England participates, is due to the liberality and public spirit shown by the Companies from the earliest period to the present moment. The Companies easily defeated Mr. Firth as regards every part of the case set up by him in his work called Municipal London; and a motion by him in favour of disestablishing and disendowing the Companies was rejected in the deliberations of the Royal Com- mission by a majority of ten to two. The gentlemen who appeared before the Commission to support Mr. Firth's views were not, in the Commissioners' opinion " competent by reason of their situation, know- ledge, and experience to afford correct information on the subjects of the inquiry " within the meaning of the terms of the Commission. So far as we can judge, no valid or weighty objection whatever exists in London either against the City or against the Livery Companies ; and Mr. Firth and the few persons who were associated with him were never appointed by the citizens of London to act as their representatives in this or any other matter. VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS WHICH HAVE DISAPPEARED, OR HAVE MERGED IN THE LIVERY GILDS. VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS WHICH HAVE DISAPPEARED OR HAVE MERGED IN THE LIVERY GILDS. XT UMEROUS callings formerly existed in i ^ a separate and exclusive form, as will be readily perceived on a glance at Stow's Survey, Herbert's Historical Essay, Ri ley's Memorials, 1868, and Mr. Kingdon's Introduc- tion to the Grocers Records, without having developed into Associations. Some became known under different names, and were ab- sorbed in other trades, while some grew obso- lete, and passed into disuse and oblivion. These small communities or unions long contributed to influence the municipal life and society of London, and existed side by side with others which at the outset possessed no larger share of vitality and justification ; but from a variety of agencies they failed to become a permanent parcel of the wide and complex machinery of metropolitan government. The most striking characteristic features of ancient commercial policy were the almost endless subdivisions of labour and employment and the larger measure of initiative right ; and the tendency grew to concentrate or centralize, and thus to extinguish many of the minor groups of artificers as independent bodies. TTbe Wbite ant) Brown Bafeers. MAITLAND says that the Bakers (Bolangerii, Fr. Boulangers) are charged in the Great Roll of the Exchequer in 1155 with a debt of one mark of gold, on account of their Gild, and thence deduces the fact that they then held their rights in fee-farm of the Crown. But he adds that they appear to have been incorporated about 1 307 by letters patent of Edward II. We must once more quote Maitland for another very early notice, as well as an extremely curious one, in connection with the Good Friday 103 IO4 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. bun : — " The Bakers, probably perceiving that great Profits arose to the Clergy by the Use of the Symbols of the Cross, Agnus Dei's, and name of Jesus, to oblige their Customers (for their own Interest), began to imprint upon their Bread the like Representations : which induced Henry the Third, by his mandate from St. Edmund's Bury, of September I, 1252, strictly to injoin all Bakers thenceforth not to put any of those sacred representations upon their Bread." In 30 Edward I (1301-2), the Bakers were allowed to hold four hall- moots yearly, to determine all offences committed in their business ; and the same ordinance restrained them from selling bread save in the market, on the site of the modern Bread Street. It elsewhere appears that in Basinghall Street, near the spot afterward, at least, known as Bakewell (or Blackwell) Hall, stood a building called the Bakehouse, doubtless the general bakery for the City within the walls. The bread consumed in London in former times was, however, to a considerable extent made, not in the City itself, but at Bromley-at- Bow and Stratford-at-Bow. In 1310 several bakeries of Stratford were presented for selling halfpenny loaves of short weight ; and we learn from the consequent proceedings that the bread was weighed in a hot state, and that in the price paid by the customer allowance was made for the shrinkage on cooling. In 1312 a baker was arrested for selling bread made of putrid wheat ; and in the following year the loaf of French bread of John de Bledelow was found to weigh 2gs. id., the shilling being equal to three- fifths of an ounce, whereas it should have weighed the same as the halfpenny loaf of Wastrel bread, and it was short by I2s. lod. There is perhaps no vocation which so often fell under the unfavour- able cognisance of the Court of Aldermen as that of the baker. The regulations for the craft in the Liber Albus and elsewhere are both numerous and stringent ; but the purveyors of bread evidently laboured a good deal to the intent that the law might be more honoured in the breach than the observance. The cases of conviction and punishment for selling loaves of short weight or impure material are innumerable ; and one of the drawings in the fourteenth century Assisa Panis depicts a baker drawn on a hurdle by two horses, with his fraudulent loaf tied round his neck. Among the Harleian MSS. is a poem by John Lydgate, a versifyer of the earlier part of the i$th century, wherein he lays deceit to the charge of the Millers and Bakers of that time, and suggests that they might do well to band themselves together, not merely for their common benefit, but in order to enable them more effectually to despoil the public : — THE BLADESMITIIS, OR BLADERS. 1 05 4/ Let mellerys and bakerys gadre hem a gildc, And alle of assent make a fraternite." In 1580 we meet with a letter from the Earl of Leicester to the Lord Mayor, pointing out the hardship upon Humphrey Nichols, a Brown Baker, by reason of the temporary inhibition to bake twopenny wheatcn loaves ; and Lord Burghley himself intercedes for some one who had made bread below the assize. But it was shown that the bread was for a private household, and not for public sale. In 1376 the Bakers sent two members to the Common Council, and in 1469 supplied 44 men-at-arms to the muster for watching the City gates. In both cases there appears to have been only one fraternity and one trade, although, according to Stow (ed. 1633, pp. 624, 642), the Bakers originally formed two such, with differing arms as below. WHITE BAKERS. BROWN BAKERS. We at all events become aware of their dual existence when they are amalgamated by Henry VIII. in 1509. But this formal union was not thoroughly consolidated till the middle of the i;th century ; and in 1622 the Brown Bakers obtained a distinct charter. The unsouridness and insincerity of the alliance are exemplified by the fact that in 1594 the Brown Bakers are found with a separate meeting-place in the basement of Founders' Hall, Lothbury, and volun- tarily contributing £6 to the paving of the yard and kitchen, as though they were tenants of some standing. The basement became generally known as Brown Bakers' Hall, a name which it retained even in 1654, when it was converted to other uses at a rent of £8, and when the trade was perhaps at length under one government. Ube Blafcesmitbs, or ffilafcers. A GOOD deal of difficulty and friction was created about 1406-8 by the deceptions and malpractices in cutlery on the part of foreigners anc other interlopers, who manufactured goods in unrecognised quarters IO6 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. and offered them for sale, whereby, among other matters, the Blade- smiths as a body incurred discredit and loss. In 1408, therefore, the Association of Bladesmiths solicited and obtained the assent of the Court of Aldermen to a code of articles, by which the sale of blades was restricted to Gracechurch Street, the pavement near St. Nicholas' Shambles in Newgate Street, and the Tun on Cornhill, and which compelled the workers, under pain of forfeiture, to make the points and edges of lance-heads, swords, daggers, knives, and axes hard enough to bear the assay ; that the masters or wardens of the trade should oversee all articles made, and that each man should to the larger pieces affix his own peculiar mark. The Gild occurs down to 1532. In 1469 it found twenty men for the City Watch. In 1502 it had a prescriptive Livery of twelve. Stow's Continuator (1633) mentions William Palmer, a Blader, as a great benefactor to the church of St. Mildred, Bread Street, under 1356. THIS Association, which was in alliance with the SHIPWRIGHTS, and which did not obtain a charter, was at one period both numerous and important Its members were the manufacturers and salesmen of the pulleys for ships' rigging and tackle, and had their centre in the purlieus of the Docks. During many years it was a practice with the Block- makers to go in procession, the first Friday in July, down the Mile-End Road to Epping, where they attended Fairlop Fair. The cavalcade in- cluded a ship or ships on wheels, with streamers and a band, and often extended nearly a mile in length. The usage originated in the circum- stance that Mr. Day, a member of the trade at Wapping, had a property in the neighbourhood of Epping, where he entertained the whole Com- pany on beans and bacon. Ube Braelers, or Brace^mafeers, THIS Association had Wardens and an organized system of .govern- ment in 1354, when the earliest bye-laws were submitted to the Court of Aldermen and approved. This code is of the usual character on the whole, but, as is always the case, contains one or two provisions special to the particular craft, as, for instance, the admittance of strangers (or other than freemen) to work after examination as to fitness and position, and the enforcement of imprisonment in cases of fraud. It is stipulated that the trade shall not employ sheep-leather. THE BURILLERS. IOJ Ube Burfllers. THIS Association, which was evidently at one time of considerable weight and note, was a branch of the great family of communities engaged in the production of woollen cloths, and was probably of equal antiquity with that of the Weavers. It received incorporation by letters patent of Henry III. (1216-72), the terms of which indicate the vocation as one of established character. The Burillers are frequently noticed in an incidental manner in the municipal archives and in the early chronicles as concerned in some dispute with the other Fraternities, particularly the Weavers, with whom their relations were necessarily very intimate and constant. In 1298-9 a serious difference arose between these two bodies in consequence of the Burillers having chosen two Bailiffs from their own ranks to hold Courts, and having presented them to the Mayor, who approved them ; and it was settled that, where any matter could not be arranged in the Bailiffs' Court, it was to be referred to Guildhall. In the succeeding year another circumstance arose, of which the ulterior value is to illustrate the extremely ancient standing of the Burillers, as well as the archaic government of that community. The Weavers appeared at Guildhall (i 299-1 300) by their Bailiffs to answer the Burillers " upon certain articles, points, and establishments, whereof there was no memory, and in respect of which, and other things, it was alleged that the defendant Association had committed trespass and wrong. The controversy was referred back by the Mayor to a committee of arbitration composed of three members of the Burillers' Fraternity and their Alderman, and an equal number of the other craft ; and the result was that certain heads of agreement were submitted. We hence infer that the burthen of the grievance was the old story of blending of foreign with English wools. But the Alderman of the Burillers was, even at this distant date, growing an obsolete designation. He was in fact the Master Warden of the body, which gave its name to the soke or ward adopted as its head-quarters, and had a proprietary and seigniorial status as distin- guished from a mere electoral one, so long as he held office ; and indeed we may see how in one case, that of Farringdon Ward, feudal rights were acquired some time prior to these transactions by an influential goldsmith on payment of a nominal tribute. A special function of the craft of Burillers was the inspection and measurement of cloth, and the summons to the Mayor's Court of all such as were found on search made to have exceeded the prescribed and lawful width from list to list of two ells, which, according to IO8 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. Herbert, were known as burrells. This duty to some extent subse- quently devolved on the Merchant Taylors. In 50 Edward III. (1376), the Gild was represented by two members only on the Common Council, a proportion significant of its commencing decline as an independent Society. It appears that the worsted manufacturers in Norfolk had been accustomed to make their cloth at pleasure and without hinderance until 2 Edward III., when some one came into those parts with a commission from the king to require them to conform to a certain assize ; and we gather that the trade was at that period extensive and important, since a committee, with the Bishop of Norwich at the head of it, was appointed to report upon the matter. ZTbe Cappers* THIS Fraternity, which (like the Hatters) was eventually engrossed by the Haberdashers, received letters patent from Henry III. Its members are frequently mentioned in the City archives in conjunction with the allied crafts. In the charter of Henry VII., incorporating the Haber- dashers, the Cappers are identified with the Hurers. The incorporation by patent of this and other minor industries serves to illustrate the tendency to decentralize labour and distribute as equally as possible the details and profits of manufacture. TTbe Carmen* THE Carmen of the City of London were incorporated by letters patent, 15 Henry VIII., and were limited to 400, including those who belonged to the King's Borough of Southwark, which was within the same jurisdiction. By a reference to what is said under the account of the Wood- mongers it will be observed that the control of the operative members of this Gild was claimed at a later period by the Governors of Christ's Hospital and by the Woodmongers. The authority of the former was overruled by the Court of King's Bench. A conflict on this, as on so many other, points of municipal policy arose, and the natural consequence was, that there was a considerable amount of anarchy and confusion. The correspondence and dispute lasted during several years with intermissions. It is difficult to discern where the independence of the Carmen THE CARMEN. 109 as a Gild lay, for they were certainly under the supervision of the Woodmongers for some purposes, and of Christ's Hospital for others. The deficiency of vehicles outside the City led to incessant requisitions upon them from the Court and nobility, more especially when some special circumstances called for an unusual number of conveyances, both for passengers and luggage. The proposition of the City in 1608 was, that whereas each carman used time out of mind to pay a duty of four nobles a year in addition to a quarter-wage of four shillings for a single cart and so ratcably in progression, now he should pay two nobles as duty for a single cart and four shillings quarter-wage, the number of carts being limited to that in the charter. The arrangement seems to have been accepted by the Common Council, and about 1620 the matters in controversy were brought to a conclusion for the time, the last incident being the resistance of the Woodmongers and Carmen to assessment by the Justices of Surrey. The Carmen were incorporated with the Fuellers in 1606 by letters patent under the name of Woodmongers, and so continued till 1668, when the Company was charged by Parliament with fraudulent practices in the sale of coals and other fuel, and threw up its charter, the Carmen reverting to their former grade as a Fellowship under a resolution of the Common Council by the name of the Free Carmen of the City of London, and with a governing body composed of a Master, two Wardens, and forty-one Assistants. In 1739 the now separate Company is mentioned as still flourishing, and as having in the hands of its freemen 420 carts or cars for the con- veyance of all descriptions of goods, coals and coke included, to and from all parts of London and its Liberties, at a tariff fixed by the City. But the working carmen were placed under the control of the Governors of Christ's Hospital, and each paid for his licence to the Hospital i?s. tyd. a year. The heaviest load mentioned is 2000 Ibs. The Gild yet survives, and as recently as 1891 possessed four votes for the City in respect of its Livery. The Courtier and the Carter. A ballad licensed in 1566. The World runnes on Wheeles ; or, Oddes betwixt Carts and Coaches. By John Taylor. I2mo, 1623, 1635. With an engraving. The Carmen's Remonstrance against the Woodmongers. 4to, 1649- A Proclamation to restrain the Excessive Carriages in Wagons and four-wheeled Carts, to the Destruction of High- ways. 1661. A broadside. HO VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. TTbe GbeesemonGers* " THE reputable men of the trade of Cheesemongers " occur as suc- cessful applicants to the Court of Aldermen in 1377 for the sanction of bye-laws drawn up by themselves for their internal government. They sold cheese and butter ; and it appears that these came into the City by water, in carts, and by men on horseback. The articles sought to restrain those who brought them by land from selling them otherwise than at Leadenhall Market or in that between the Shambles and Newgate, and before the stroke of noon, and to render it unlawful for those who came by water from selling them to hucksters, regraters, forestallers, and others. Special allusion is made to Welsh cheese, called talgar, which is said to have been carried to London, and sur- reptitiously sold in Fleet Street, Holborn, and elsewhere. Cheese engrosses the entire text of the code ; and we learn that the Cheese- mongers had been required to revise their scale of prices. In 1379 regulations were first formally made as to the sale of butter within the City. The price differed with the season. No butter was saleable without the porringer, which held half a quart butter- measure. The Cheesemongers concentrated themselves in the vicinage of Breadstreet Hill in the time of Stow or at least of Howes (1633) for the convenience of their trade, and Thames Street has always continued to be the great landing place for foreign cheeses. The earlier factor in this commodity at the river-side was probably a wholesale merchant. The importation of the Dutch cheeses was probably of great anti- quity. In the Abridgement of the City Charter, 1680, the waterside porters are authorized to charge \2d. for unloading two cwt. of Holland cheese, being the scale for foreigners, or those who were not free of the City. Cheesew right, which is at present only the name of a person, was obviously in the first instance that of a craft, and indicates those who made the article, as the cheesemonger does those who sold it. THE FREE FISHERMEN. I I I Ube Comb*mafeers. THIS Society was incorporated by letters patent of Charles the First, in April, 1636, under the name of the Master, Wardens, and Fellowship of the Comb-makers of London. Maitland (1739) says that its government was a Master, two Wardens, and thirteen Assistants, but that it had neither Hall nor Livery. ZTbe Corners of tbe 1Roper£. THE Ropery adjoined the Steelyard, or rather Staple-yard or House, and was originally a seat of the distinct industry in which the Corders engaged. The sale of ropes, cord, and other similar appliances for sails and shipping was naturally allocated to the water-side ; and the Corder gradually added, according to the prevalent usage, where no other separate craft undertook the business, the canvas and sail-cloth trades. The Ropers and Canvassers (with the Pepperers) eventually merged in the GROCERS. ZTbe jfree ffisbermen. THIS Company was incorporated, according to Maitland (1/39), in the third year of James II., under this style ; but no further particulars are forthcoming, except that there is a series of petitions extant, ad- dressed by the body to the Government, and that, from a reference by Maitland in his second edition (1756), there seems to have been an antecedent charter. The Case of the Company of Free Fishermen of the River of Thames, and other Fishermen of this Kingdom, using the Lobster Trade. A broadside. [About 1700.] 112 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. ZTbe fforcers, or Casfeetmafeers* THE manufacture of caskets, formerly called forcers, was evidently one of great antiquity and of special importance in regard to the skill and taste demanded in such as were of costlier workmanship. The bye-laws or ordinances, of which the good folk following this trade solicited official approbation, apparently for the first time, in 1406, stated in the premises that divers persons, both freemen of the City and foreigners, were in the habit of making and vending forcers of defective material and fabric, in great deceit of the people, and so forth ; and accordingly the petitioners asked to be allowed to appoint from year to year two Wardens, and to have certain articles for their stricter governance and greater security. It is hence ascertained that the usage of the trade was to make nine different sizes, of the second of which only the distinctive name, a quarlet, transpires. These caskets were originally of wood, lined with linen cloth. Like the salvers and trenchers of the same material, they were the precursors of others formed of the precious metals, and elaborately tooled and chased. By the Act I Richard III., dealing with the importation by foreigners of a variety of goods, "painted forcers," doubtless of wood, are enu- merated in the list of prohibited merchandise. Ube ffullers. A CHARTER of incorporation was granted to the Fraternity or Gild Perpetual of the Mistery or Craft of Fullers, April 28, 1480, 20 Edward IV. The Company was ordained to consist of three Wardens and a commonalty of freemen and freewomen, with a licence in mortmain and a common seal, and the right of pleading and being impleaded. The charter conferred the power of making ordinances for the internal government of the Society, under the advice of the Lord Mayor, but to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the King's courts. This was followed by a deed executed in the name of the three persons, members of the trade, who had been instrumental in obtaining the charter, John Britte, Henry Lee, and Thomas Wymonde, and dated October 18 in the same year. Doubtless, the Fullers caused ordinances or bye-laws to be framed by virtue of the liberty above given, but they do not seem to survive. For a considerable period they remained an influential and numerous TIIK FURHISHKRS. I 13 association, and gave much trouble to the City by the disputes which arose as to the methods of fulling and other points. The Fullers had, long prior to this date, concentrated themselves, it appears, in the neighbourhood of La Blanche Cliapdlc, or White-Chapel, where in ancient times the matfellon,1 or fuller's teasel, largely used by the trade in their operations, grew to such an extent that the district became known as Villa Beata Mar ice de Matfellon. They had at one period a Hall in Billiter Square. Their successors, the Clothworkcrs, adopted from them the Virgin as their tutelary saint. The question of irregular fulling in water-mills and walk-mills, instead of by hand, was mooted in 1404; and the Mayor and Aldermen were instructed to come to the aid of the Hurers and Cappers in this matter, and to enlarge the powers of their Wardens, so as to enable them to cope with the grievance, which damaged their reputation and business. Similar fellowships existed down to a much later time as separate bodies in the provinces. The Fullers of Newcastle-on-Tyne, by dissolv- ing themselves and dividing their corporate property, created the test case, by which it was ruled by the Master of the Rolls that there was a right and power resident in such societies to determine their existence, and distribute the corporate estate. jfurbtebers. THE code of bye-laws by which this Craft, no longer recognised in a separate form, was regulated, bears date 1350; but it then already possessed Wardens, and had doubtless been some time in existence as an unchartered Fraternity or Association. These articles relate to the manufacture of pommels or hilts and scabbards of swords, and to the repair of old weapons of that class. They are few in number, and chiefly of normal character. 1 In ancient times, somewhat nearer the city, in St. Botolph's parish, Bishopsgate, lay Tazel Close, so called because before it was let as an archery ground the teasel used to be regularly cultivated there. The area was eventually enclosed, and became the Artillery Garden. C.C. 8 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. TTbe (Barfceners. OLD ARMS. BROWES — — — — PRESENT ARMS. ALTHOUGH not now numbered among the Livery Gilds, the Gardeners were twice incorporated ; namely by letters patent in 1605, September 18, and by charter in 1616, November 9. In the first instance, the Company obtained enrolment in the Chamber of London ; but in 1616 the civic authorities seem to have offered difficulties, as happened in other cases. It does not appear under what conditions the Gardeners lost this original grant, which may have applied, like that of 1616, to those occupied in the City or within two miles thereof; but the Court of Aldermen proved obdurate, and the King wrote from Scotland to endeavour to induce that body to relent, with what success we do not learn. The disappearance of the Gild may be ascribed to its lack of industrial importance, and to the uncommercial character of those who, beyond the working members of the craft, felt an interest in such matters. It seems from a petition presented by the " Gardeners of the Earls, Barons, and Bishops, and of the Citizens of London," that it was in 1345 regarded .as a prescriptive usage for them to be permitted to offer for sale, in front of the church of St. Martin, at the side of the gate of St. Paul's church, their masters' garden-produce for their profit. But the practice was represented to the Corporation as being attended by such grave inconvenience to the frequenters and officials of the churches and others, that, by way of compromise, the petitioners were allowed to stand in future on the space between the south gate of St. Paul's and the garden-wall of the Friars Preachers at Baynard's Castle. The style of the Company was The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Company of Gardeners of London. There were a Master, two Wardens, and eighteen Assistants, but no Livery. THE HABERDASHERS. Zlbc tmbcrtmsbcrs of St. Ikatbertnc tbc IDiroin anfc of St. Wcbolas. Two Brotherhoods so named existed in London long before the acquisition of corporate dignity by the Gild now known under the name of Haberdashers. It was not till 1448 that the Haberdashers of hats and those of small wares, the Hurers or Cappers, and the Hatters strictly so termed, were finally combined in one society and under one con- stitution. The most ancient references to the unincorporated Haber- dashers do not state whether they were of St. Katherine or of the other Fraternity. In 1311 divers haberdashers and hatters were convicted of selling false hats, black, white, and gray, made of wool and flocks, and the goods were burned in Cheapside. It seems to have been an inquisition undertaken at the request of certain hatters, who are named. The earliest bye-laws of the Haberdashers are dated 1371. They are comparatively few and simple, and merely rehearse that none of the trade should take a journeyman save as an apprentice for seven years, that no sales of wares should take place on Sundays or holy days, or elsewhere than in the dealer's own shop or stall, and that the fraternity shall every year choose four overseers to protect the trade and present defaulters to the Guildhall. All that we are enabled to understand is, that these persons were " the reputable men of the trade of Haberdashers." Under the date 1378 we have, in Mr. Riley's Memorials^ an exceed- ingly curious and edifying schedule of the contents of a haberdasher's shop. They comprise (i) 12 dozens of laces of red leather, value 8^., and a gross of points of red leather, value i8^/. ; (2) one dozen of cradlebows made of wool and flax, i8<^. ; (3) three ditto, $d.\ (4) red, green, and white caps, the last called nightcaps, the coloured at 2s. Sd., and the white at 2s. $d. a dozen ; (5) two dozen of woollen cap; of divers colours, i6s. ; (6) six ditto of black wool, 4^. ; three of blue and one of russet, 2s. 6d.\ (7) five children's caps, red and blue, 2s. \d.\ (8) r ne dozen of black hures [caps], 4^. ; one ditto, tyi. ; (9) two hair camiscs [coats of camlet], \2d. ; (10) one hat of russet, 6d. ; one white hat, 3d. \ (15) two pairs of pencases with ink-horns, &/. ; Il6 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. (16) one pair of children's boots of white woollen cloth, 2d. ; (17) one oscillatory, called a paxbread, ^d. ; (18) four combs of boxwood, ^d. ; (19) two wooden boxes, 3^. ; (20) two wooden pepper querns, ^d. ; (21) two Ibs. of linen thread, green and blue, 2s. ; (22) two wooden frames for cushions, 2d. ; (23) six purses of red leather, 4^. ; (24) four eyeglasses, 2d. ; (25) eighteen ink-horns, i&/. ; (26) one black girdle of woollen thread, 2d. ; (27) thirteen quires of paper, 6s. 8d. ; (28) other paper, damaged, 6d. ; (29) one wooden block for caps, 2d. ; (30) six skins of parchment, called soylepeles, 6d.\ (31) one wooden whistle, 2d. ; (32) seven leaves of paper, \d.\ (33) three pieces of whipcord, $d. The preceding inventory, when we consider its date, is of singular interest and pertinence. It probably represents the remainder-stock of a dealer, insolvent or deceased, and is remarkable enough for the diversity and range which the business had at that time assumed. It further proves that the haberdasher was accustomed to keep miscel- laneous goods of almost every description for domestic use other than apparel and furniture. TTbe Ibatbanfc THIS Society was incorporated by letters patent of 13 Charles I., 12 December, 1638, as the Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Fellowship of the Mistery of Hatband-Makers of the City of London. The govern- ment was by a Master, two Wardens, and twelve Assistants. There was no Livery. The Company flourished so long as the fashion prevailed of wearing rich and costly hatbands; but even in Maitland's time (1739) had dwindled down to two or three members. It has long been extinct. THE HOSTELERS AND HAYMONGEKS. 117 ZTbc Ibattcrs. THESE existed as a separate body down to the fourteenth century, but appear to have been eventually amalgamated with the Haberdashers. The bye-laws of the Hatters were approved by the Corporation in 1347, and included the usual provisions and safeguards, with power of search and of appointing six overseers. They prohibited the sale of foreign hats, except in gross and to freemen. TTbe Ibeaumets. THE men of the trade of Helmetry, eventually merged in the Armourers, submitted their Articles or bye-laws to the Mayor and Court of Aldermen for approval in 1347, and they were passed. Besides the habitual conditions as to freedom, apprenticeship, and such points, the Heaumers were empowered to elect Wardens or supervisors, to prevent the employment of unskilful workmen, to the discredit of the craft and the common deceit ; (2) to make assay of all helmets of foreign fabric, and mark them before they could be sold ; (3) to see that all helmets whatsoever were properly stamped with the sign of the maker. Ube Ibostelers anfc THESE are cited in a petition of 1327, as if they formed one and the same body, in connexion with a grievance as to the misdemeanour of certain foreigners who, whereas they were entitled to sell only in gross, brought their hay in small bottles in carts, so concealed as not to be readily observable, and retailed it for half-pence and farthings, not only in the forenoon, but in the later part of the day. On the 1 2th December, 1446, certain men of the Mistery of Hostelers of the City preferred a petition to the Mayor, which prayed for the confirmation of their ordinances ; and the same was granted, and the ordinances entered on record. Here there is no mention of the Hay mongers ; — and about twenty- seven years later (October 28, 1473) we detect a further development of the organization in another address to the Court at Guildhall, in which the Wardens and other men of the Mistery of Innlwlders represent that they had been heretofore improperly designated Hostelers, which Hostelers were verily their servants, and begging that in this renewal of their ordinances and henceforth they might be called Innholders ; whereto the City assented. n8 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. This incident closes therefore the annals of the Hostelers, whose future career may be found narrated under their correct appellation or style. But we see in these passages the origin of the modern hostler or ostler; and it may be the fittest opportunity of pointing out the need of remembering, when we consider the subject of English Inns and their keepers or holders, the primitive nucleus of the principle and institution, and the transitional stages through which they passed, before they attained even the form assumed by them in the days of Chaucer. At the outset, the Inn was merely a lodging for travellers, not necessarily a public one, on or near the wayside along the principal routes for pedestrians, riders, or packhorses throughout the kingdom. Private householders, who had sufficient accommodation or a desire to earn money by such means, received strangers under their roofs for the night, or at most, — if they had satisfactory credentials, — for two or three days. Ordinarily, all that was offered was the shelter for man and beast, and perhaps the bait for the latter ; but the guest was supposed to bring his own commissariat. From certain persons thus placing their dwellings at the disposal of casual visitors, when there was no other refuge, and where it was not a party carrying its own tent, or where, again, there was an absence of facilities afforded by ancient ruins or dense sylvan cover, it became a natural evolution to the professional host, who adapted his premises to public and general requirements, and soon learned to find in the purveyance of refreshments, both liquid and solid, an additional and leading source of profit. The growth of the Inn was at once the cause and consequence of an increased habit of travelling, through the extension of inland commerce and the rise of provincial towns into greater importance and into more regular inter- course with the metropolis ; and the houses of public entertainment in London and in other chief centres, especially sea-ports, were fostered and multiplied by the floating population, which gradually rendered the City itself so cosmopolitan. The original combination of the hay-dealer with the Hosteler or Hostler simply had in view the habitual demand for the article on the part of ordinary customers and the incidental sale to others. We do not accept without reserve the statement of the Innholders in THE ANCIENT HOSTELER. THE HOSTELERS AND IIAYMONGERS. 119 1473, that the Hostelers were subordinates. In the official returns of 1469, touching the City Watch, the Hostelers arc charged with furnishing eighteen men, and there is no reference to the Innholdcrs ; but it may be the fact that, when inns became of greater importance and dimen- sions, the office of hosteler, and the term, acquired a new and modified meaning, and that the individual, who kept the rudimentary establish- ment, transferred his name to the superintendent of the stable under the innholder. But by whatever title he was known, the hosteler has never become an extinct type ; he was the keeper in the Stuarts' time of the petty ostery^ or cheap lodging-house and restaurant ; and he still survives among us. From the mention of the Hostelers and Haymongers in very early records as a branch of trade and as a recognised association, almost before we meet with the Innholder, it seems possible that the latter was an aftergrowth,1 and that the accommodation of travellers at bed and board in town or country, especially in places off the high roads, followed the supply of mere entertainment for man and beast on their way from point to point. The person who kept the inn not un- naturally acquired an importance superior to the person who kept the stable, hay-loft, and brewery-tap or brasserie; and these premises became a subsidiary portion of the establishment ; but the still not un- frequent separate tenure of the outbuildings may be viewed in the light of a survival, and as shewing the germ of the inn. In not a few of the Ordinances of the other Gilds we meet with injunctions against the sale of goods by craftsmen in hostels in lieu of the open market ; and this irregular practice was discountenanced, because it was held to be a vehicle and facility for fraud, where the Wardens had no opportunity of control. But it was also the origin of the later usage of employing inns as a rendezvous for travellers and itinerant dealers, and the foundation of the Commercial Room. Within the confines of the City itself, however, the practice of fur- nishing entertainment and sleeping accommodation for the traveller more speedily followed than elsewhere; and in 1365 the hcrbergeonr or keeper of the aitbcrge, subsequently known as the innholder, was already a familiar institution, around which sufficient time had elapsed for the growth of abuses. For we encounter about that period, when Chaucer must have been intimate with such resorts, and was studying character with rich profit to us all, that the authorities had to put pres- sure on certain herbergeours to restrain them from baking their own 1 Somewhat on the same principle that the Frenchman's shirt is said to have been an aftergrowth from his wristband. I2O VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. bread, and from selling ale, except to stranger guests, — the bond fide traveller of those days, — or unless the landlord was also a common brewer ; and all loaves supplied to customers were to come from the baker, and to bear his mark. The ordinances of 1365 prescribe the scale at which the innkeeper should charge for his hay and oats, whether the former was sold by the bottle or otherwise. ZHbe Iburers, Iburrters, or /HMlIiner*.1 THIS Fellowship, with those of the Hatters and Cappers, was perhaps at one period associated with the Mercers, while the latter still retained their small-ware trade. The Hurers and Hatters were united by letters patent of Henry VII. ; and this body, again, with the Cappers and two Fraternities of Haberdashers, constituted the Gild of Haberdashers, incorporated under that title in 1447. The Court of Aldermen found it imperative to devote a considerable share of time and attention to the trades' unions and Gilds, among which questions of law or right were continually arising. In 1376, the Hurers or Hatters complained that certain persons fulled caps or hures, or hats, in the same manner as clothes, at a certain water-mill, and shewed that these things so fulled with the clothes were very inferior to those done by hand ; and, on sufficient proof being given, the Court acceded to the Hurriers' prayer for a restraint of the practice. The Hurers recur in 1398, under the first mayoralty of Sir Richard Whittington, as receiving an official sanction to supplementary articles for the government of their trade. These prescribed that caps or hures, or other matters, should not be scoured in the public thoroughfares, but on private premises — a provision occasioned by the practice of hurers sending their assistants, and even children, down to the river side to scour their goods, and great dissension and even bloodshed arising, to the great scandal of the trade, besides that they were often sent thither "amid horrible tempests, frosts, and snows." The Milliner seems to have been recognised as a separate employ- ment and denomination, and to have occasionally become one of great importance and wealth, for in 1552 Baptist Borrow, milliner, in St. Giles's Cripplegate, is recorded as being buried " with a pennon, a coat-armour, and a herald ; " and there were twenty-four torch-bearers, the Company of Parish Clerks, and many other mourners ; and the church was hung with black. 1 The word milliner is usually derived from Milan, Milaner, a dealer in Milanese goods. THE MARBLERS. 121 Xinen Drapers. IN the notice of the Drapers' Company some account will be found of the somewhat slow and tardy development of a branch of business which is at present so universal and lucrative. The introduction of linen fabrics from abroad was long opposed by vested interests here ; and we have to wait till the latter half of the i$th century before we gain any tidings of this industry as the foundation of a Fellowship or Fraternity. In 1469 the Linen-Drapers, then evidently of humble rank, gave a quota of four men-at-arms to the City Watch, the maximum being 210. In 23 Henry VIII., they are enumerated among the bodies which sent representatives to a municipal banquet ; and whereas the Drapers them- selves were allowed to fill twelve places besides those of their Wardens, the Linen-Drapers were obliged to be content with two. They had at this period no Livery, and apparently never achieved any other progress toward independence. One of the most distinguished followers of this calling was James Heyward, whose place of business was on Fish Street Hill. He died in 1776 in Austin Friars, in his seventieth year. He had in his younger days contributed to the Spectator, and he bore a name which, during centuries had been associated with letters — nearest to his own time in the person of Mrs. Eliza Heyward or Hayward the novelist. The Merchant's Warehouse laid open; or, the Plain Dealing Linnen- Draper. Shewing how to buy all sorts of Linnen and Indian Goods. By J. F. I2mo, 1696. Ube /Ifcarblers. STOW says : " The Company called by the name of Marblers, for their excellent knowledge and skill in the Art of Sculpturing personages for Tombs, Grave-stones, and Monuments in Churches and elsewhere in Religious places : their antiquity and what respect they have carried is unknown to me, nor can I find them to be incorporated ; but [they] 122 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. hold some friendship with the Masons, and are thought to be esteemed among them in Fellowship." In the list of burials in the Priory of Blackfriars occurs, under date of June 6, 1527: "Thomas Raynton, citizen and marbler." This Raynton must have been a person of some consideration, as he directed that he should be interred here " within the cloister, nigh as may be to the grave where Dr. Morgan, late Prior, lies buried, if he fortunes to decease within the City." Hugo Marleberer, one of the Sheriffs of London in 13 Edward III. (1339-40), may be probably claimed as a member of the same calling. That was a period when the avocation still bestowed the patronymic or surname. Other Gilds, which have disappeared from observation, are never- theless more or less fully recorded and known, as we shall point out elsewhere ; but this is the only reference to the Marblers with which we recollect to have met, beyond the passage in the Survey of London and two notices in Riley's Memorials under 1281 and 1284. They merged perhaps in the Masons. This obsolete or amalgamated Gild must have been for a length of time of very considerable eminence and wealth ; and to its members or the followers of the vocation we doubtless owe great part of those fine monuments of deceased celebrities which were erected in former times in London, Southwark, Westminster, and elsewhere, and of which many perished in the Fire of 1666. The pages of Camden (Latin account of the Royal and Noble Burials in St. Peter's, Westminster, 1600 and 1606), Payne Fisher (Tombs and Monuments in St. Paul's, 1684), Weever (Ancient Funeral Monuments, 1631 and 1767), and Dingley (History from Marble and Welsh Journal} afford some idea of the extent and rank of this industry, when during centuries such a succession of costly tombs was demanded by our wealthy and powerful families, and the art was confined to a few individuals, bound together by ties of fellowship and reciprocity. That a good deal of their work has disappeared, we need not doubt for an instant Successive improvements and other changes, and fires, have done their part ; and in certain cases the monuments have been removed for the sake of the material, as when, in 1564, Sir Martin Bowes, a member of the Goldsmiths' Company, and then Lord Mayor, sold for 5O/. the grave-stones and monuments at the Greyfriars — of course only one instance out of many, where a person of such station could be guilty of such an act. The Marblers are pretty clearly identical with the LAPIDARIES. Speaking of the Gildhall of the Merchants of the Hanse of Germany in Thames Street, Stow's Continuator (1633) mentions that the Gild THE PARISH CLERKS. hired in 6 Richard II. a house adjoining, some time belonging to Richard Lions, a famous Lapidary, one of the Sheriffs of London in 49 Edward III. and in 4 Richard II., taken forcibly from that house by the rebels under Wat Tyler, and beheaded in Cheapside. ZTbe parfsb Clerks. PRESENT ARMS. THIS Brotherhood was incorporated by letters patent of 17 Henry III., in the year 1233, by the name of the Fraternity of St. Nicholas, and again by patent of 9 James I., 19 January, 1611-12, under their present designation. The grant was renewed 1 1 Charles I., 27 February, 1636-7. In 27 Henry VI. certain tenements at Bishopsgate, on the left hand side of the street from the gate, were granted to the fellowship for the purpose of endowing and maintaining two chaplains in the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, near Guildhall. In this concession the property is described as having formerly belonged to " a Brotherhood of St. Nicholas " ; but it may be presumed that that was the germ of the later body. The Parish Clerks were bound under the old law to register the weekly christenings and burials in their respective parishes by six o'clock p.m. on each Tuesday ; but the time was changed to two o'clock, to enable the authorities to have knowledge of the figures and facts in advance. A decree of the Court of Star Chamber in 1625 gave the Parish Clerks liberty to have on their premises a printing-press for the purpose of the periodical Bill of Mortality, and the Primate assigned them a 124 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. printer to superintend it. But the list was confined to deaths within the City bounds, and is consequently very defective. The charter of 1637 conferred jurisdiction over the Cities of London and Westminster, the Borough of Southwark, and fifteen out-parishes ; and the corporation consisted in 1739 of a Master, two Wardens, seventeen Assistants, and all the Parish Clerks ex officio within the Bills of Mortality. In 1391 the Fraternity, consisting of the clerks of the various parish churches of the metropolis and others of a similar calling, performed at Skinners' Well, Clerkenwell, the Creation and the Passion before the King, Queen, and nobility, and received under writ of privy seal io/. for their pains ; and in 1409 there was a second representation before Henry IV. and his Court of the same kind, but of ampler extent, which lasted seven days. In his Miller's Tale, Chaucer makes jolly Absolom, the parish clerk, take the part of Herod in exhibitions of this character. This Fraternity seems to have borne a part in those frequent religious ceremonials which marked the life of former days. In the Corpus Christi procession of the Skinners, described by Stow, no fewer than two hundred are said to have attended. In the Founders' accounts for 1497 there is, in connection with the celebration of a mass, a payment to two parish clerks of eightpence, or a groat each. Maitland states in 1739 an^ again in 1756, that the Hall of the Com- pany was in Wood Street, Cheapside ; it is at present in Silver Street, a turning out of that thoroughfare. ARMS, 1633 (FROM STOW). EARLY ARMS. But their earlier, if not their original, seat was at Bishopsgate, where at the very beginning the Clerks were established. As we have above mentioned, houses near the gate were vested in them in the reign of Henry VI. to found a religious service with two chaplains near Guild- hall, and this circumstance doubtless led to their eventual migration to THE PAVIOURS. that vicinity. One of the houses so devised was the Wrestlers' Inn, and another, the Angel ; the Parish Clerks' Hall lay behind, and was approached by a court. The premises consisted of the Hall itself and seven almshouses, and at the Dissolution were granted to Sir Robert Chester. The former owners took legal proceedings against the in- truder, and anticipated a successful issue ; but Chester determined the suit by pulling down the Hall, and disposing of the materials. OLD ARMS. PRESENT ARMS. STOW (ed. 1633, P- 641), says: "The Company of the Paviours no doubt have beene a Company of antiquity, and maintained a Community or Brotherhood among themselves, but for incorporation no Record doth testifie it to me, and therefore I have lesse to say of them." It seems reasonable to conclude that this Association could not have acquired much importance in early times, when the use of pavement, or even of paved stone ways, was excessively limited. By the regulations as to wages of various trades, set down in the Liber Albus, paviours were not entitled to charge more than twopence for making seven foot and a half of pavement of the foot of St. Paul in breadth. This was termed a toise ; and the workman was further bound to conform to the Assize. No paviour might lay his work at a different level or elevation from that of the neighbouring premises. In 1739 and 1756 Maitland refers to this as a Company by prescrip- tion, and as consisting of three Wardens and twenty-five Assistants, without a Livery. 126 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. ZTbe Pepperers. A COMPARATIVE examination of the records and notices relative to this most ancient Fraternity seems to lead to the conclusion, that they were the descendants of the " Emperor's men," or Teutonic Society, which in the tenth century obtained a grant of land or a site at Dowgate by the river's bank, and held it by a sort of feudal custom, namely, by a half-yearly delivery to the Crown of ten pounds of pepper. They may well have derived their appellation from this source ; but they soon began to extend their transactions, and united with the Corders and others in forming a more or less irregular Gild, which doubtless made it a primary business to supply and monopolize the riparian trade in that quarter. In 1180, according to an entry in the Pipe Rolls, they had attained sufficient eminence to find a place among the eighteen "adulterine" Gilds, which were fined because they had not sought a royal licence. They were required to pay sixteen marks. The same thing happened to some of the bodies which now form the twelve great Companies. The Pepperers and Corders (with whom were subsequently associated the Farriers, Apothecaries, and others) obtained the nomination of the keeper of the King's Great Beam at the Staple-Yard or Steelyard, the goods brought or shipped there being almost exclusively such as fell under the heavy standard. The importance of accurate determi- nation of weight was far greater when the state of the currency necessitated a large resort to barter. The earliest ordinances of the Pepperers with which we are ac- quainted are those which they made, with the assent of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in 1315-16, wherein they are described as "the good folks of Soper Lane of the trade of Pepperers," and credit themselves with the desire to settle certain undermentioned points for the common benefit. They are ranged under four heads : namely, That no one of the Craft shall directly or indirectly mix or adulterate goods of different quality and price. That no one shall tamper with bales, so as to change or transfer the contents of any bale, or place false wares beneath true ones. That no one shall moisten saffron, alum, ginger, cloves, and such other merchandise, in order to increase the weight. That every vendor shall have true uniform measures and weights, shall sell by the hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds, fifteen ounces to the pound, save confections and powdered goods, which shall be sold by twelve ounces to the pound. This shews that, prior to their combination with the Spicers under - . 2 M ftj 2 I o S '-7 128 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. the name of Grocers, the Pepperers had in use both the avoirdupois and troy or tron weights. The Pepperers steadily rose in wealth and dignity. On the decline of the influence of the Jews and Italians, they gradually added to their functions those of bankers and pawnbrokers, before the Goldsmiths' Gild made those departments of business their particular province. The Fraternity had strengthened its ranks indeed by admitting to membership some of the more eminent merchants of foreign origin, whose experience and connexions were apt to prove of essential service in an industry of varied character and incidence. Among these we may mention Andrew Bokerel and Sir John de Gisors. Bokerel in 1225 farmed the revenues of the King's Exchange, near St. Paul's, where all transactions in the precious metals were once conducted. He was succeeded at intervals in this responsible and honourable office by other Pepperers, and in 1231 was chosen Mayor, holding that position till 1237. Between the latter date and 1345, the year of the incorporation with the Spicers, eight other brethren of the Gild filled the mayoralty. In 1312, of the twenty persons spe- cially charged by Edward II. in his letters from York to hold the City in his obedience, nine were Pepperers. It was the frequent absence of our kings from London, and the weakness of the central authority, which favoured the growth of municipal power. Some suppose that Bucklersbury, to which the followers of the mistery shifted somewhat later from Sopers' Lane, owes its name to Bokerel, who had his mansion house there. We observe that in the Coroner's Roll of Edward I. for 1278 Broad Street Ward is described as the Ward of William Bokerel. He was the proprietary or feudal Alderman, and as in the case of the Faringdons the estate remained some time in his family. Isabella Bokerel, whose will, dated 1 280, is enrolled in the Court of Husting, was doubtless of this ancient stock ; she appears to have possessed property in the Saddlery adjoin- ing Cheapside. This illustrious municipal family first presents itself to our notice in the person of Thomas Bokerel, Sheriff in 1216-17, 2 Henry III. He was probably related to Andrew, who was Sheriff, 8 and Mayor, 15-21, of the same reign. In the u and 12 Henry HI. Stephen Bokerell was one of the Sheriffs in the mayoralty of Roger Duke, and in 40 of that king Matthew Bokerell filled the same office. The Fraternity migrated at a later period, perhaps about the first quarter of the fourteenth century, to Sopers' Lane, where they con- tinued to rise in importance and reputation as' dealers or factors in an extensive choice of necessaries for consumption or use, as bankers, and as financiers. THE PEPPERERS. I 29 Riley prints an indenture as to a sale of jewels by Walter Aclryan, Pepperer of London, in 1338, to Margery Randolf; which jewels were presumably his private property, and must have represented a con- siderable money-value. x The Pepperers, with whom were associated the Spicers of Cheap, a second opulent body, both of whom may have felt the need, as their business and resources expanded, of some system of defensive co-operation, though ostensibly for the maintenance and increase of love among themselves, formed themselves on St. Anthony's Day (May 9) 1345, into a fraternity, called the Fraternity of St. Anthony, "to the honour of God, the Virgin Mary, St. Anthony, and All Saints," and agreed to dine together, being two and twenty persons, on June 12 following, at the palace of the Abbot of Bury [Bevis Marks] in Thread- needle Street, near St. Anthony's Hospital, when two Wardens were elected for the government of the body, and certain ordinances were settled among themselves, providing for conditions of membership, the payment of fees, the maintenance of a priest, the choice of a common livery, arbitration between brethren in cases of dispute, attendance at mass and at a banquet on St. Anthony's Day, when the Wardens were required to wear chaplets, and crown their successors for the year next ensuing, the rules of apprenticeship, and the relief of the poor of the Brotherhood. The Wardens of 1346 delivered to those of 1347 all the property of the Association, namely, 61. 6s. in money, the Halliwell chalice, and a vesture. The assemblies at the Abbot of Bury's, a house exempted by charter from episcopal, and perhaps from other save regal, interference, and contiguous to the hospital and church of the patron-saint of the Pepperers, were purely temporary, and the new Gild returned shortly after to quarters in Sopers' Lane, their former centre, by St. Antho- lin's Church, at the junction of the lane with Watling Street and Budge Row ; but we shall see that, during a lengthened period, the Fraternity had no fixed abode or address, and occasionally met in St. Antholin's, or whither the Wardens summoned them. Mr. Kingdon has taken singular pains to trace and establish a link between St. Anthony's in Threadneedle Street (a presumed cell of St. Antoine de Vienne in Dauphiny) and the long commercial relation- ship of the Pepperers with Alexandria, the seat of the worship of the Coptic personage of the same name, who is commonly known as St. Anthony; and that gentleman ascribes the Association of the Pepperers with the Hospital or Hospice in the City of London to their espousal of the Alexandrian anchorite as their tutelary saint. Sopers' Lane, Cheapside, the modern Queen Street, appears to have C.c. 9 130 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. been from the most ancient times a busy and noisy spot. It owed its name to the Soapers or Soap-makers, who, at a period when Cheapside was still a comparatively open space, were left at liberty to pursue their calling here. The Pepperers, a far more important, influential, and respectable body, perhaps succeeded them. In 1297 we come across an ordinance of the City to forbid evening " cheapings " here and to abolish what is termed the New Fair. At this time, and till some centuries later, Cheapside extended only from Sopers' Lane to Foster Lane. On the removal of the Pepperers, or rather Grocers, to Bucklersbury, the Curriers and Cordwainers settled here. In the time of Stow's Continuator (1633), a chain was drawn across the middle of this lane, which was, no doubt, just such a narrow thoroughfare as many yet remaining thereabout. In 1348, the widows of free Pepperers were allowed to preserve their membership, to apply for relief, and to attend the dinners, so long as they remained in that state, or did not remarry out of the Fraternity; and in the same year a beadle was appointed to summon the members. The Pepperers and Spicers, as an independent Gild, may be con- sidered as having determined their career some time previously to I373» when they had apparently enlarged their sphere of activity and influence, and designate themselves Grocers, otherwise dealers in whole- sale or gross ; for the contention of Mr. Kingdon, that they were so called because they adopted the avordupois standard is rebutted by the evident circumstance that they used both standards. It is certain, however, that anterior to 1345, namely, in documents of 1310 and 1328, the appellation Pepperer is rendered by the Latin word Grossarius, as if they were beginning to gain recognition under the latter, which found its way into our language through the mediaeval form Grocere. THE PINNERS OR PIN-MAKERS. 131 pinners or ptn-mafcers. IN 1376 the Pinners returned two members to the Common Council, and in 1469 supplied twenty men to the City Watch — a fair quota, as the Salters made themselves answerable only for a similar number, while many of the minor Companies contributed no more, or less, than half. By the charter granted to the Girdlers, 10 Elizabeth, the Pinners and Wire-workers,1 who had been one body at least since the time of Edward IV., and kept their accounts together, were united with them ; and this is the last intelligence which we gain of the present Association, until 1598 or thereabout, when it appears to have abandoned its Hall in Addle Street, rented from the Plaisterers, through a depression in the industry, and to have removed elsewhere. After existing during three centuries, perhaps, by prescription, or as a subordinate member of the Girdlers, the Pinners obtained separate letters patent of incorporation, n Charles I., August 20, 1636, when the home manufacture of this article of constant use began to grow more extensive and regular, and to supersede the foreign trade, which is said to have been so large in the previous reign that 60,000!. a year left the country to pay for our imports. Its style was, The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Art or Mistery of Pin-makers of the City of London. The government was a Master, two Wardens, and eighteen Assistants. There was no Livery. We have already traced the Pinners to Addle Street as lessees ; and from a broadside in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, ascribed to 1619, we learn that the Company then had a Hall at St. Mary at Hill, but were on the point of migrating to a new one at St. Katherine Crie, where they were prepared to supply customers. Here there is evi- dence to shew that they continued to exercise their trade, and to hold 1 See the account of the Tin Plate Workers in the next division of the book. 132 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. periodical assemblies until 1723, when the Hall was diverted from its purpose, and let as a Presbyterian meeting-house. Like that of the Founders, it lay back from the thoroughfare in Old Broad Street, and was approached by an alley still known as Pinner Court. It was taken down in 1797. But over the building at the end of the court Pinners' Hall is inscribed in bold characters. The whole group of modern brick and mortar is a nest of offices. The footfall of a Pinmaker has not been heard there these hundred and fifty years passed. Prior to the happy discovery of the notion and art of making this diminutive essential, thorns, stone, bone or metal skewers, brooches, and bodkins, the two latter often of silver or gold, were employed by all classes. This was a part of the primitive mercer's occupation, which he eventually relinquished to the hurer or milliner, and which became in turn one of the lucrative specialties of the haberdasher of small wares. Here the retailer acquired a footing more advantageous than that of the manufacturer ; for the corporate privileges of the Pin-makers appear to have lapsed, and very little is heard or known of them as a Company or Gild after their original incorporation. The combined influence of the bodies interested in keeping them under normal mercantile control was very strong. Account Books of the Pinners and Wire-makers, temp. Edward IV. Egerton MS. Brit. Mus. 1142. Minute Book of the Pin-makers, 1710-23. MS. in the Guildhall Library. To all Haberdashers and other Tradesmen whatsoever, buyers and sellers of Pinnes within the Cite of London and suburbs thereof. [Notice by the Master, Wardens, Assistants and Companie of Pin-Makers, of the Removal of the Hall heretofore on S. Mary Hill, to near S. K. Crie Church, where the Companie have in readinesse all sorts of Pinnes. [1619.] A broadside.] Ube planers. A NOTICE of this Craft Gild will be found under the account of the Joiners in the following section. Like the Sawyers, they long main- tained an independent position as a trade's-union, and were manifestly recognised as such so late as 1629, in which year they contributed 4/. 6.y. to the civic expenses connected with a coronation, against 8/. i6s. demanded from the Joiners, and io/. i$s. from the Carpenters. The Planers must have constituted a regular and important organiza- tion, distinct from both, and were constructively of great antiquity, although their rise into prominence doubtless resulted from the develop- ment of the special branch of the art which they professed. They, equally with the Sawyers, however, failed to hold their ground. THE POUCH-MAKERS. 133 Ube {potters. THIS Brotherhood probably merged in the Armourers and Braziers. It is to be concluded that it possessed no constitution or governing body. In proceedings which took place in 1316 before the Mayor and Aldermen, " the good folks of the trade of Potters in London " made plaint of abuses and frauds committed to their detriment by persons who sold pots of bad metal by setting them on the fire and thus making them look like vessels of good material ; and these offenders aggravated their delinquency by offering the goods for sale in West Cheap on Sundays and festival days. The Mayor's Court directed that steps should be taken by honest men of the trade to make assays, and determine in what proportions lead and copper ought to be employed in the manufacture. But the record, whence these particulars are taken, was left incomplete. ZTbe WE first hear of this Fraternity in 1339, when overseers were appointed to order the trade, and detect fraudulent or irregular practices. From new articles or ordinances framed for them in 1371 it is readily inferable that they had obtained antecedent regulations. Those of 1371 pre- scribed an exclusive right of sale for purses and straps of leather in the City, but during the day and in their shops only, and not privily in hostels; that no serving-man or apprentice of the trade should work under any person of another trade, lest he might teach him the craft ; that no apprentice should be received who was a common brawler or otherwise of evil fame ; and that an infringement of the rules of the Society should be punished by a fine. Here they are termed "the reputable men of the trade of Pouch-makers," and it is expressly mentioned that the articles have not yet been " enrolled " among the archives of the Fellowship. In the following year a fresh code of bye-laws was drawn up for the Pouch-makers and Leathersellers jointly ; and we shall find that the latter ultimately absorbed the former and more ancient union. In 1400 the Pouch-makers obtained from the Court of Aldermen the supervision of galoches of wood, which they shewed to the Court that they had invented and established. These were apparently clogs or pattens with leathern straps, to lift the wearer above the kennels of the City, and were probably a foreign fashion temporarily brought into use 134 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. here. As early as 1469 a Society of Patten-makers existed, as we shall see hereafter, but was not incorporated till 22 Charles II. In 1488 and 1501 the Court of Aldermen made further ordinances for the regulation of the craft. In 1501-2 they are reckoned in an official list as the fifty-sixth Gild, coming between the Broderers and the Woodmongers ; in 23 Henry VIII., at the Lord Mayor's banquet, they ranked fifty-third, following the Carpenters ; and they appear to have then possessed a Livery, though in 1501-2 they are classed with the bodies which had none. But, on the other hand, it is stated that in 1517, by virtue of an order of the Court of Aldermen of November 17, they had joined the Leathersellers. They long continued, however, to be an influential body. Under March, 4, 1503-44, among the burials at Blackfriars, occurs that of John Burton, Citizen and Pouch-maker, who directs that he shall be buried where God shall provide ; but if he deceases within seven miles or thereabouts, in the body of this church, as nigh as may be to the image of our B. Lady. He bequeaths 6s. 8d. to the Prior and Convent to fetch his corpse to sepulture, and for their accustomed divine services. On their union with the Leathersellers, the Pouch-makers brought into the common chest a large and valuable assortment of plate, pewter, masers, and table-linen, besides a picture of the Assumption ; shewing that they were a substantial and thriving Fellowship. The inventory of their goods is still extant1 pursers or (Blovers pursers* SOME notice of this Fellowship, which was incorporated with the Leathersellers in 1 502, will be found under the accounts of that and the Glovers' Companies. Sbearmen ipauuarff) or IRetuufcers* IN 1527-8 these, with the Fullers, were constituted a Company under the name of Clothworkers. They first occur to notice in 1180, among the eighteen adulterine Gilds, and are described as Pannarii. Although the Shearmen existed so much earlier, and formed a member of the group of industries represented by them, the Weavers, Fullers, and Dyers, there is no trace of any charter of incorporation prior to that of January 24, 1507-8, 23 Henry VII., under the Great 1 History of the Leathersellers' Company, by W. H. Black, 1871, p. 48. THE SHEARMEN (l>ANNARIl) OR RETUNDERS. I 35 Seal, in which licence is given to the men of the mistery of the Shearmen within the City of London and their successors to found a Mistery or Gild in honour of the Assumption of the Virgin, with power to elect from year to year out of their own body a master and two Wardens, with the rights of mortmain, of pleading and being implcadcd, of having and using a common seal, and of framing ordinances. The Shearmen, however, under the name of Pannarii, occur among the eighteen unlicensed Gilds, fined by the Crown in 1 180, but paid, or became liable to pay, only one mark. Their Alderman was then John Maur. This is the only explicit allusion to them, till we find them in possession of bye-laws in 1350, under the approval of the Corporation; and indeed the Telarii, or Weavers, who were closely associated with the Shearmen during the employment of unmixed woollen fabrics or the Old Drapery, had them before the reign of Edward I., since in these latter there is an express reference to anterior ordinances not at pre- sent known. Those of Edward I., as they more particularly concern the Weavers, may be better reserved for another place. The code of 1350 does not essentially or greatly vary from that in force among the other early brotherhoods. But it may be noted (i) that none should engage a foreigner to be a partner with him in his business ; (2) that all disputes arising between man and man were to be referred to the Wardens, and that no more strikes among the members, in the way of conspiracy and combination, were to be suffered. We learn that the Shearman at this period received, according to the season, from ^d. to 4^. a day and his table, and nothing extra in the winter for night- work. The labour of the Shearman in the middle of the I4th century is elucidated by the entry among the City Regulations of '1350, where the prices chargeable by him are specified and fixed, namely, for a short cloth, \2d.\ for a long one, 2s.\ and for a cloth of rayed or striped soy, and shearing the same, 2s. This scale was applicable to piece-work only. Prior to their union with the Fullers in 1528, this Society seems to have had its bye-laws at least twice renewed, namely in 1452-3 and in 1507-8. In the former they are described as the Shermen-Craft of the House of the Augustine Friars in the City of London ; and the code is stated to be acknowledged in the presence of the Official of the London Consistory Court in a certain upper hall called Lombard's Hall, within the said House of Augustines. It is curious that in the date not only the regnal year of Henry VI., but that of the pope, is furnished. In 1453 tne Shearmen seem to have numbered sixty, the Wardens inclusive, but not reckoning the sisters, who formed part of the Society, 136 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. and joined, if not in the labour, at least in the ceremonial observances, as they shared its privileges and obligations. The ordinances of this date cite a Council of twelve persons to advise and control the Wardens, the prototype of the more modern Court of Assistants ; and they contain a curious provision, interdicting the acceptance of anything in payment of labour from a Lombard or stranger but coined money, to some extent in forestalment of the Truck Act. The remainder of the code is occupied by injunctions as to religious observances, quarter- wages, fines, and methods of regulating work. A very short time after this date, in 35 Henry VI. (1456-7) and while the Shearmen yet preserved their individuality, John Hungerford and others, Citizens and Shearmen of London, acquired by deed from John Badby " a tenement and mansion-house, shops, cellars, and other the appurtenances lying in Minchin Lane, to the use of themselves and their heirs for ever." The grantor of this property, which is still vested in the Shearmen's successors, was perhaps related to the person of the same name, of Taplow, Co. Bucks, who had rights over Boveney Lock, near Eton, in 1375. The ordinances of February 18, 1507-8, were approved by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and Chief Justice of the Common Plea, at Westminster, and mainly follow the lines of 1452-3. But here we find the twelve Councillors of 1452-3 explicitly called Assistants, and one of the Wardens distinguished as the Upper or Master Warden, the origin of the later office of Master ; this functionary must have served twice the office of Lower Warden. The seat of the Company is now termed its Common Hall, and the Livery occurs by name as a body entitled to receive from the common purse at intervals new clothing of the same colour and hooding. We perceive that it is indifferently, here and elsewhere, cited as the Livery, the Clothing, and the Vesture, and special officers were set apart to attend to the provision of it from time to time. One of the articles of 1507-8 deals with the relief of poor members out of the common box and alms of the Craft, while in another is the direction, at the obsequies of a member, that all his brethren shall follow him to the grave in their proper dress. These are by far the most elaborate and exhaustive regulations with which we have met at so early a period, and they embrace the oaths to be administered to new comers, as well as to the officers of the Company. THE SHIVERS. 137 ZTbe Sawpers. UNDER the account of the Joiners we have taken occasion to notice the origin of that Craft Gild as an offshoot from the Carpenters. In 1670, the latter drew up a series of objections to the incorporation of the Sawyers, and were seconded in their resistance to the proposal by the Joiners and Shipwrights. The main argument was, that the Sawyer was a labourer, whose work was necessarily overlooked by masters, and who sought independent jurisdiction as a method of still further en- hancing the price of his work, which used to be 5^. and 6s. per load, and since the Fire had risen to Ss. and gs. ; and that the Carpenters themselves in their shops used the long or whip saw, and sometimes employed their own journeymen or apprentices, sometimes the class which now made pretension to become a Company. The matter did not probably proceed beyond a preliminary stage or a tentative discussion. Ube Sbeatbers. THESE were absorbed in the Armourers, but for a length of time, like the Bladesmiths, Furbishers, etc., constituted a distinct, though unchartered Society. FOR a brief period, while commercial intercourse with the Peninsula was interrupted by the war between the French and ourselves (1809-12), the manufacture of wooden bungs for casks developed into an important industry ; and a short-lived Association, called the Shivers' Company, sprang into existence. But the inconveniences arising from the want of flexibility and elasticity in wood naturally led to a prompt disuse of the new custom and to the early dissolution of this modern and most fugitive of trade misteries. Oaken shives are still made and used to a limited extent, but by- far the greater part of the immense quantity of shives required by British brewers and others is supplied from America, the soft wood used being compressed by the process of manufacture, and becoming perfectly liquor-tight on contact with fluid. VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. ZTbe Silfemen. IN 1611 the Commissioners for Suits referred a petition from the Silkmen of the City, praying incorporation, to the Lord Mayor by command of his Majesty ; and the Corporation reported that the Company was neither profitable nor necessary, and would entail great and sundry inconveniences. They alleged that the step would lead to abuses in working, in dyeing, and in weighing ; and for all the purposes which it set forth provision was already made by custom of the City or by statute. The Silkmen, who, as we perceive, had their own arms, and were plainly a numerous and important body, are named in the course of the controversy and correspondence which took place between 1607 and 1616 in relation to the dyeing of silk. We hence learn that there was a certain description of silk then sold under the designation of London or light-weight silk, and that many other abuses existed in the trade, which the King or his nominee thought should be remedied by some new machinery, but with which the City declared itself competent to deal. This Fellowship obtained letters patent, 7 Charles I., May 23, 1631. The government consisted of a Master or Governor and twenty Assist- ants. But it possessed neither a Livery nor a Hall. THE SILK-THROWERS OR THROWSTERS. 139 ZTbe Silfe^ZTbrowers or ZTbrowsters, IT appears that, at some considerable period prior to the institution of this Company, the trade was chiefly in the hands of foreigners ; but their descendants by intermarriage and naturalization acquired a suffi- cient footing to obtain in 1622 recognition as a Fellowship by the City, and in 1630 (April 23) a regular charter, with a government consisting of a Master, two Wardens, and twenty Assistants. There does not seem to have ever been a Livery or a Hall. In an Act of Charles I., the Silk-throwsters are described as broad- silk weavers, and are declared admissible into the Weavers' Company, provided that they were "conformable to the laws of the realm and to the constitution of the Church of England." But the evidence goes rather to establish that this proposed union did not take place, inasmuch as subsequently to the Restoration the Throwsters still appear to have been an independent body, and no one was at liberty to engage in the trade, unless he had served his seven years' apprenticeship to the Gild, and been admitted to the freedom. A very Considerable and Lamentable Petition to the Honourable House of Com- mons, February the I2th, 1641. The Humble Petition of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of the Mistery or Trade of the Silk Throsters of London. A broadside. [1642.] 140 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. ZTfoe Soapers or Soap^mafeers. UNDER the notice of the Pepperers we have introduced a reference to Sopers' Lane in Cheapside, which was successively occupied as a seat of trade by the Pepperers and by the Curriers and Cordwainers. But, prior to either of these, and constructively at a period of extreme antiquity, the spot formed the centre of the soap manufacture, of the origin of which we do not hear much, but which, during the reign of the later Tudors and the Stuarts, became an object of profitable employment, and consequently a prize for the patentee and monopolist, who bought his right from the Crown or its agents, and then farmed it to others. In 1579-80 we come across the Soap-makers, and discover them in a dilemma, by reason that the Lords of the Council pressed upon them the sole purchase of oils from one Laurence Mellow, whereas the trade demonstrated, to the apparent satisfaction of the Court of Aldermen, that Mellow's oils were of the worst quality, and unfit for their purposes. The matter ended by the Lord Mayor sending samples of the stuff to the Council, and leaving Mellow to shift as he could. The term soap-boiler occurs among the trades which were admitted to membership of the Merchant Taylors' Company at a somewhat late date. They are named in the Ordinances of 1661. Many years after, the Soap-makers obtained a charter (13 Charles I., May 22, 1638), and had a government composed of a Master, two Wardens, and eighteen Assistants. But they never possessed a Livery or a Hall, and in the last century transacted their affairs at Guildhall. A Proclamation concerning Soape and Soape-makers. 1633. A broadside. A Proclamation for the Well Ordering and Settling the Manufacture of Soape. 25 Jan., 1633-4. A broadside. THE SPURRIERS. 141 A Proclamation concerning the Well-Ordering the Trade of Making and Selling of Soape. 13 July, 1634. A broadside. A Short and Trve Relation concerning the Soap-business. 410, 1641. Tvstin's Observations, or Conscience Embleme. ... By me, John Tustin, who hath benne plundered and spoyled by the Patentees for white and gray Soape. Aug. 27, 1646. A broadside. The Soap-Patentees of London's Petition Opened and Explained. By Richard Wilkins. 4to, 1646. A Looking-Grlasse for Soap-Patentees. 410, 1646. The Soap Makers' Complaint for the Losse of their Trade. 4to, 1650. The Soap-Makers' Petition : Whipt and Stript. 410, 1650. Ube Spicers. THE Spicers of the Ward of Cheap are coupled with the Pepperers of Sopers' Lane in an instrument of 1345, which practically laid the foundation of the Grocers' Company, and which in its unincorporated state was known and recognised as the Fraternity of St. Anthony. Of the Spicers (Fr. espiciers or epiciers) as a separate body we do not gain much intelligence prior to their union with the perhaps more wealthy and important Merchant Gild of Pepperers. Their subsequent history is bound up with that of the GROCERS. It seems to be thought that the Spicers of Cheap did not confine themselves to spices and other fine goods, sold by the troy weight, or Goldsmiths' measure of twelve ounces to the pound, but had trans- actions in sundry choice and costly specialties, such as precious stones, jewellery, and other Oriental products or merchandise of a portable and luxurious character. Ube Spurriers. THIS Brotherhood, which subsequently merged in the Loriners, obtained a set of Ordinances in 1345, by which, among other usual stipulations, it was prescribed (i) that no one of the trade shall work longer than from daybreak till curfew rung out at St. Pulcher's, Newgate, by reason of deceptions practised, as the use of false or cracked iron, and the laying of gilding on false copper, and further, because certain would wander about all the day, and go to their work at night drunk, and blow up their forges to the peril and discomfort of all ; (2) that none shall expose his spurs for sale on Sundays or double feasts, but only his sign, and shall, if he then sell, do so within ; 142 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. (3) that all Spurriers shall be freemen ; (4) that none shall offer old spurs regarnished, or change them for new ones ; (5) that no foreigner shall be admitted, unless he has been enfranchised ; (6) that none shall work on Saturdays after noon till the Monday morning ensuing. In 1501-2, the Spurriers were the seventy-sixth Company, and are marked as having a Livery. In 1509, they were the last in order of the forty-seven Companies which lined Cheapside at the coronation of Henry VIII. They were still a separate Gild in 23 Henry VIII. Stow says (1633) that Huggin Lane, in Queenhithe Ward, was formerly called Spuren, or Spooner, Lane ; but the name Spuren seems rather to indicate the seat of the Spurriers — the lane of spurs. The same writer informs us that Water Lane in Tower Street Ward was once known as Spurrier Lane. Both thoroughfares were within a short distance of each other, and doubtless owed their designation to a similar circumstance — the selection of the locality as a seat of the Craft. Starcbmafeers. ON February 5, 1607-8, the Grocers' Company represented to the Lords of the Council, through the Lord Mayor, the evils likely to arise from the incorporation of " certain persons allowed and using the trade of starchmaking " by letters patent. The petitioners alleged that the price of the article would be increased, and great inconvenience and annoyance caused to the public. As we hear no more of them, the Starchmakers did not probably then obtain their charter, even if they paid for it. They were, however, afterward incorporated by letters patent of May 13, 1622, 20 James I., and consisted of a Master, two Wardens, and twenty-four Assistants, without Livery and Hall. Stow (Annals, 1615, p. 869,) notices the coming to London in 1564 of Mistress Dinghen van den Plasse, a Fleming, with her husband. She THE STOCK-FISHMONGERS. 143 was the daughter of a man of good position, and they removed to England for greater security. The wife started in business as a Starchier, and acquired a large custom from her own country-people here. Her fame as a starcher led to the more general use of cambric and lawn ; and she took pupils, whom she charged from 4/. to 5/. for instruction, and 2os. for initiating them into the art of seething or boiling the starch. A Proclamation for the Well-Ordering the Making of White Starch within this Realm, and for Restraint of the Importation thereof from Foreign Ports. 1661. A broadside. IN the patent granted to the Fishmongers' Company in 1364, this other Fraternity is described as enjoying an exclusive right of selling stock-fish in such places as were set apart for the purpose. They are frequently mentioned by Stow and others ; but we do not learn at what precise date they acquired the King's licence and the recognition, which are indistinctly stated in Edward's patent to the Salt-fishmongers. It is clear that they had their own places for transacting business and displaying their goods. In the charter to the Salt-fishmongers in 1399, we meet with a notice for the first time of Stock-fishmongers' Row, that part of Upper Thames Street between the Water Gate or Oyster Gate and Old Swan Lane. One of the wharves in that thoroughfare was known as Fresh-fish Wharf; and the members of the Fraternity possessed a station at or near St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate. They were debarred from selling before morning mass. In 1406, Peters, who brought fresh fish for sale in the City, were allowed to stand in Cheap, and nowhere else. Several distinguished men raised themselves to eminence by a suc- cessful career in this species of business, and among them Sir William Walworth, whose gallantry displayed itself in the rebellion of Wat Tyler. But at length, in 24 Henry VII., September 20, 1508, after perhaps two centuries of life as a single Association, and five years after their actual union and employment of a common Hall, " Le mester de stok- fisshmongeres," as they are termed in the charter of 1 399, was statu- torily incorporated by the name of the W'ardens and Commonalty of the mistery of Stock-fishmongers of the City of London, with per- petual succession, a common seal, a licence in mortmain, and the power of pleading and being impleaded. The two Gilds were amalgamated 27 Henry VIII. Among the 144 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. municipal archives of this year is an order of the Court of Aldermen, under December 12, giving precedence to this then new Gild after the Vintners; and a further one of July 2, 1509, places them next to the Grocers, when the Companies assembled on public solemnities in St. Paul's Churchyard, and in processions next to the Vintners, as in 1508, and before the Dyers. Stock-fishmongers' Hall stood in Thames Street, a few doors eastward from the other Company's seat, on one of two pieces of ground belong- ing, 42 Edward III., to Sir John Lovekyn and others, and then the site of four tenements. Lovekyn's residence is described in an inquisition, 22 Richard II. (1399), as " one tenement on the Oyster Hill, in the parish of St. Magnus, London," and is valued at I is. ^d. a year. The Hall was built at the back of Lovekyn's house between 1368 and 1399. Contiguous to it were premises on a part of which stood one of the common privies, then and long after a not very picturesque or sanitary feature in the landscape. ZTbe Stringers. THE good folks of the trade of Strengers, that is, bow-string makers, represented to the Court of Aldermen in 1416, a period of great mili- tary activity in connexion with our French wars, that grave inconvenience and loss had accrued by the use of defective strings ; and that whereas complaints have been made to them by persons in authority, officers of the King and others, that some remedy ought to be found for this evil, they prayed that they might have Wardens and Ordinances, as other trades had, to see well that the material and workmanship were good. This requisition was granted. This appears to be the same body which, under the name of Long Bow- String- Makers, is described by Maitland as a Company by pre- scription, yet in possession of a coat of arms as given above. Its governing body consisted of two Wardens and nineteen Assistants ; but there was no Livery. THE SURGEONS. 145 ZTbe Surgeons. THIS appears to have been a short-lived association, arising out of the grant in 1461 of a charter to the Barbers, and the evident feeling of the necessity for a higher grade of practitioner in difficult cases, or indeed in almost all outside phlebotomy and dentistry. Its name occurs in 1469 among the Companies then liable to participate in guarding the City gates ; but it is described as contributing nothing, and in 1501-2 was one of the twenty-eight bodies without a Livery. The other official lists contain no reference to it. But the two bodies were, as we shall hear, united by Act of Parliament in 1548, and remained so till 1745, when the Surgeons were erected into a new and independent Company from consideration of the great increase of knowledge among them, and the peculiar importance of their calling, as well as from a widely-diffused persuasion that the Barbers were playing a double part, incompatible with the public interest and security. The Surgeons' Company was appointed to consist of a Master, two Wardens, twenty-one Assistants, and ten Examiners ; and the same privileges and powers were conferred on the governing body as were contained in the charters of Henry VIII. and Charles I., and in the Act of 1 548. Under the account of the BARBERS some further details of the original Surgeons' Society will be found. LITERARY NOTICES. The Noble Experyence of the Vertuous Handy Warke of Surgery Practysed and Compyled by Jherome of Bruynswyke. Folio, 1525. The Practyse of Cyrurgeons of Mount-piller [Montpelier]. 410 [about 1525]. An Act Concernyng Barbers and Surgeons to be of one Companie, within the Citie of London. Sm. folio (with other Acts), 1540. The Byrth of Mankynde, Newly Translated out of Latin into English. 410, 1540, 1545, !549> I552» IOI3> I026> l634- The Cluestionary of Cyrurgyens. With the Formulary of a Lytell Guide in Cyrurgie. 4to, 1541. c.c. 10 146 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. Compendiosa totius Anatomic Delineatio, asre exarata per Thomam Geminum Londini. Folio, 1545. With copper-plates. A Most Excellent and Learned Woorke of Chirurgerie, called Chirurgia Parua Lanfranci. Translated and Published (with Additions) by John Hall, of Maid- stone, Surgeon. 4to, 1565. The Historic of Man, Sucked from the Sappe of the most Approved Anatho- mistes. By John Banister, Master of Chirurgerie, etc. Folio, 1578. The French Chirurgerye, or All the Naturall Operations of Chirurgerye, with divers and sundrye Figures. By Jaques Gyillemeau. Folio, Dort, 1598 ; 4to, London, 1635- A Discovrse of the Whole Art of Chyrvrgerie. . . . Compiled by Peter Lowe, Scottishman, Doctor in the Facultie of Chirurgerie at Paris : . . . The Second Edition corrected, and much augmented and enlarged, by the Author. 4to, [1605] 1612, 1634. With woodcuts. The first portion is inscribed to James Hamilton, Earl of Abercorn, and others ; the second, to John, Archbishop of Glasgow. There are verses by Thomas Churchyard, Esquire, John Norden, Physician, and G. Baker. The author dates the second edition from his house in Glasgow, Dec. 20, 1612. Description of the Body of Man, with the Practise of Chirurgery. By Alexander Rhead. 4to, 1634. With engravings. The Surgeon's Mate; or, Military and Domestique Surgery. By John Woodall, Master in Chirurgery. Folio, 1639. In this book the use of lemon-juice in cases of scurvy is first recommended. The Chyrurgeon's Store-House. Furnished with Tables cut in Brasse. By Johannes Scultetus [Schultz] of Ulm. Translated by E. B. 8vo, 1674 With 43 copper plates. Compendium Anatomicum, Novo Methodo institutum. By John Case, M.D. I2mo, 1695. With copper plates. Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris ; or, the Anatomy of a Pygmie Compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man. By Edward Tyson. 4to, 1699. With engravings. The Judicial of Vryns. Folio [about 1510]. *#* Two or three editions. The Seynge of Urynes, 410 [i 525 ?]. *#* Several editions. The Ivdgement of all Urynes. 8vo [about 1540]. The Differences, Cavses, and Judgements of Vrines. By T. F., 8vo, 1598; the same, by J. Fletcher. 8vo, 1641. The Urinal of Physick. By Robert Recorde, M.D., of Tenby. 8vo, 1548. Dedi- cated to the Wardens and Company of the Surgeons of London. *** There are several later editions, down to 1665. The Arraignment of Vrines: Wherein are set downe the manifold errors and abuses of ignorant Vrine-monging Empirickes, cozening Quacksaluers, women- physitians, and the like stuffe : Confining the vrines within their owne lists and limits, . . . Collected and gathered together . . . and written first in the Latine Tongue, and diuided into three Bookes by Peter Forrest D. of Physicke, and natiue of the Towne of Alcmare in Holland. . . . Translated into our English Tongue by lames Hart Dr in the foresaid Faculty. 410, 1623. The Anatomic Of Vrines. Containing the Conviction and Condemnation of them. Or, the second Part of our Discourse of vrines. Detecting and vnfolding the manifold falshoods and abuses committed. . . . Neuer heretofore pub- lished. By James Hart of Northampton. 410,1625. THE GREY TAWYERS OR TANNERS. 147 ZTbc Uapissers or ZTapestr^mafeers. THE ordinances of "the good folks" of this trade were made and approved by the Corporation in 1331. They refer to the removal from the Fellowship of any misdoer or thief, to the tapice being of the lawful assize used in ancient times, and if of the common assize, four ells in length and two in breadth ; and if of the smaller assize, three ells in length, and ij ells in breadth. No tapice or carpet was to be made with arms thereon, unless it were wholly of wool. No cushion or banker1 was to be made with arms thereon, unless it were all wool, and half an ell square, and at least an eighth of an ell deep. No one not free of the City was to keep any handiwork belonging to the trade, on pain of forfeiture. No material was to be used henceforth in the trade but good English or Spanish wool. Of course cases often occurred in which spurious material was used by the original Fellowship, and if the fraud was detected the goods were burned. The Tapissers probably became absorbed in the Broderers. They are specially mentioned by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales, written about 1388, as a separate and conspicuous body; but it may be sur- mised that they had branched off from the Tapestry Weavers. ($res Hawsers or banners. THIS was a minor craft immediately in connexion with the Pelterers or Skinners, being the mechanics who flayed the animals ; and its bye- laws, made in 1365, chiefly relate to its obligations to the more impor- tant and powerful body. Some of the provisions were sufficiently drastic. They recite, besides other matters, that no Tawyer should deal in any peltry ; that he should not act as broker between one dealer and another ; that he should not make old budge into new leather, and that he should not cut off the head of any work ; and the penalties were almost always in the form of imprisonment, in addition to a fine. The oath to be administered to the Tawyers is found in the Liber Albus. It solely concerns the prohibition from flaying horses within the City and its then suburbs, and belongs to the fourth year of Edward III. The Grey Tawyers appear to have had no Livery. In 1469 they were sufficiently prosperous to equip twenty guards for the City gates ; and in 1531-2 they were represented by two members, besides their Wardens, at the Mayor's feast. 1 A cushion for banks or benches. 148 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. TTbe Wbite BOTH this community and the fore-mentioned are shown to have been in close relations with the Skinners and Upholders, of whom accounts are given elsewhere. The White Tawyers acquired by-laws in 1346, and are there described as "the good folks the Megucers, called Whittawyers? This code is rather lengthy, and comprises some unusual provisions : (i) That they would find a wax candle to burn before Our Lady in the church of All Hallows, London Wall, and put money in the Box to support the same. (2) That if any of the trade should fall into poverty, he should, if he were a man of fair repute, receive jd. out of the Box weekly, and his widow after his decease during her widowhood and good behaviour. (3) That one who died, and had not wherewithal to bury him, should be buried out of the Common Box, and that all the Brotherhood should attend the vigil, and make offering on the morrow. (4) That Overseers should be elected once a year with the customary powers and duties. (5) That none shall take for his work more than the fixed price: namely, for the dicker of Scots or Irish stags, \ mark ; for the dicker of Spanish stags, los. ; for the hundred of goats'-fells, 2Os. ; for the hundred of roe- leather, i6s. ; for the hundred of hinds'-calves (young female deer) or kids'- fells, &s. These are the persons who are described in 1311 as preparing white leather with alum, salt, and other materials. Some further account of them is given under that of the LEATHERSELLERS. Ube UobaccoflMpe THIS Fraternity obtained letters patent 15 Charles II., April 29, 1663, incorporating them as the Pipe-makers of the Cities of London and Westminster, with a Master, two Wardens, and eighteen Assistants, but with no Livery. Nothing appears to be known of them except that they still existed in needy circumstances in 1826, when they applied without success to the Founders (and probably to other Companies) for assistance. THE WATERMEN. 149 Ube /Rafters of IDfneaar, Hqua Dita:, anb Hqua Composfta. THIS was evidently an unendowed Fellowship of recognised standing in 1594, when the Court of Aldermen supported it against a patent granted by the Queen to Richard Dickes, to the prejudice of the civic body. It doubtless eventually merged in the Distillers' Gild, which was incorporated in 1638, but not enrolled till 1658. TTbe Matermen. IN 1372 the City authorities enacted that no boatman should take for his fare between London and Westminster more than two pence ; and the same, until his boat is full of people, when he shall take three pence at the highest for his boat, himself, and his partner, on pain of imprisonment as well in London as in the Staple of Westminster, and that no boatman should withdraw himself from serving the people on the same pain. From extant printed monuments we learn that there was in 1559-60 an established scale of fares for passengers between London and Gravesend and London and Windsor; and in 1641 the WTatermen are expressly described as a Company, possessing ancient Overseers, Rulers, and Assistants, or, in other words, a government of long continu- ance. By the Act 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, the Court of Aldermen was invested with the duty and power of electing, out of the whole body plying between Gravesend and Windsor, eight Overseers ; and beyond the regulations made by this statute we find others under I James I. cap. 1 6. The Watermen (with whom were subsequently, but before 1700, associated the Lightermen) of London and Westminster were never formally incorporated ; but under the government of their Overseers the provisions of the law were enforced, as may be judged from a long account in Maitland, who appears to have taken particular pains to ascertain all that was possible about the Society ; in his time, the 150 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. number of boats and barges belonging to the Free Watermen was computed at about 7,000. By the 11 and 12 William III. cap. 21, the Watermen of London and Westminster were at liberty to ply for hire on Sundays ; and in the case of those of Westminster, who appear to have been independent of the London body, the proceeds were applied to charitable purposes. It was officially stated that in 1701 this fund amounted to 8oo/. a year. The interests and resources of the Fraternity were fatally affected by modern improvements. The tariff, originally fixed in 1559, was revised from time to time. Maitland prints that in force in 1671, including the "Rates for carry- ing of Goods in the Tilt-Boat between London and Gravesend." The Table of Fares " from London to places on the River Thames without the Bill of Mortality " contains the charges for the boat and the Company as far as Gravesend one way and Windsor the other. The payment to Chelsea, Battersea, or Wandsworth was is. 6d. and ^d. for the Company ; that to Putney, Fulham, or Barn- Elms, 2s. and 4//. ; that to Hammersmith, Chiswick, or Mortlake, 2s. 6d. and 6d. The rate of course increased with the distance ; Twickenham cost 4$. and 6d. for the Company ; Hampton Court, 6s. and is. ; W7eybridge and Chertsey, los. and is. ; and finally Windsor, 14^. and 2s. It was almost a monopoly. An Act was framed in 1729 to amend the previous Acts relating to Watermen, Wherrymen, and Lightermen, working on the Thames. The Watermen, although we do not find any trace of a charter, constantly describe themselves as a Company ; and in an order of 1701, to check the use of bad language on the river, the Hall is ex- pressly named, but without an indication of its locality. It was first and long situated, however, in Lower Thames Street, near the Three Cranes, in Vintry Ward, on the site of Calvert's Brewery, was burnt down in 1666 with most part of the contents, and rebuilt twice, in 1667-8 and 1722. But in 1776 the Company parted with the property to the brewing-house, and transferred its quarters to St. Mary- at-Hill, near at hand. The Company was particularly honoured by the eminent literary qualifications and special standing of John Taylor, called the Water- Poet, one of the most prolific writers of his time, both in prose and verse. His publications range in date from 1612 to 1653, and in subject over the whole field of social and political life. He was a zealous and staunch Royalist, and after the death of Charles I. confined himself to the pro- duction of fugitive pieces on miscellaneous topics. Two engraved por- traits of Taylor exist. THE WOODMONGERS. 151 He was certainly a man of unequalled versatility with his pen ; and his writings shed a remarkable light on contemporary usages and events. LITERARY NOTICES. The Prices of Fares and Passages to be Paid unto Watermen from London to Gravesende, and likewise from Gravesende to London, and to every Common Place betwene : and also between London Bridge and Windesoure. [1559.] Abroad- side. The Prices and Rates that every Particular Person ought to Pay for his Fayre or Passage vnto Watermen or Whyrrymen from London to Gravesende. . . . [1559-60.] A broadside. Cas Merveilleux d'un Bastellier de Londres, lequel, sous ombre de passer les passans outre la riviere de Thames, les estrangloit. 8vo, Lyon, 1586. To the Right Honourable Assembly, the Lords, Knights, Esquires, and Burgesses of the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament : The Humble Petition of the Ancient Overseers, Rulers, and Assistants of the Company of Watermen. Written by John Taylor. 410, 1641, 1642. To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons of the City of London, . . . The Humble Petition of the Sea-men and Watermen in and about the said City . . . 1659. A broadside. To the Supreme Authority of the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England. The Humble Address and Congratulation of many Thousands of Watermen belonging to the River of Thames. 1659. A broadside. THE sole very early reference to this Association occurs in an indenture of 1375 between the Woodmongers of London and John Baddeby, of Taplow, in the county of Buckingham,1 whereby the latter renounced his alleged right to a toll on all vessels passing through Baddeby 's Lock, probably, as Mr. Riley suggests, Boveney Lock, near Eton. Hence it is to be inferred that the Woodmongers brought this commodity from a distance in various directions by water for sale in the metropolis. From an order of Common Council in 1379, it is clear that buyers of billets, and perhaps firewood generally, brought by water were bound to go direct to the wharves, and that middlemen were not 1 See the account of the Shearmen, suprd. 152 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. allowed. Two persons, presumably forestallers, who were found in this year to have 6,000 billets stored up for re-sale, forfeited them to the authorities. But in the case of large contracts for timber for building purposes, the Companies' archives and other authorities combine to establish that the contractor or architect bought his material direct from the estate, as when, in the restoration of Goldsmiths' Hall in 1666, a negotiation is conducted with Colonel Nevill, near Windsor, for the required supply. In 1501-2 the Fellowship is returned as fifty-seventh in order, and stands between the Pouchmakers and the Turners. In 23 Henry VIII., where the precedence is not strictly marked, it is forty-eighth, and is said to have no Livery. We learn from Stow (ed. 1633, p. 642) that "the Company of the Woodmongers, being a very ancient Fellowship, and of good and amiable agreement together for long time, became to be incorporated the nine and twentieth day of August, in the third yeare of the Reigne of our Sovereigne Lord King James ; " but in this statement the old historian is not perfectly explicit, as will be seen on a reference to the account already given of the Carmen. John Dyer, Citizen and Woodmonger of London, is named as the plaintiff in a case of alleged forgery in 1412. From some correspondence between the Lords of the Council and the City in 1601, it appears that the Woodmongers had the supervision of the Carmen within the civic boundaries, and that the Mayor found difficulty in dealing with both. The City was expected to find at short notice carts and hackney carriages for the purposes of the Court, and the payment was evidently irregular and precarious. Two hundred two- horse carts were demanded to convey the King's effects to Greenwich in 1604. The hackneymen and coachmen who served the King of Den- mark during his visit to England in 1606 were furnished by the civic authorities. It is remarkable that in 1615 this Society subscribed as much as 2OO/. to the Ulster Plantation scheme, as sub-sharers with the Vintners. The sum was equal to that given by the Carpenters, and far in excess of the quota found by several bodies still surviving. The minimum was 2O/. As we perceive from the language of a tract quoted below, it was still in existence in 1649, and was then engaged in defending its interests against hostile encroachment. Elsewhere we take an oppor- tunity of shewing that there were at one period relations between the Woodmongers and the Clockmakers, through the call for the old- fashioned cases for coffin-clocks. But after a troubled and chequered career, the Woodmongers aban- THE WOOL-PACKERS. 153 doned their charter in 1668, in consequence of charges preferred against them in Parliament. In 1694, however, they were resuscitated by a resolution of Com- mon Council on a smaller basis, with the right to keep 120 carts, independently of those maintained by the Carmen for the conduct of their own business. The Woodmongers' Remonstrance, or, The Carmen's Controversie rightly stated ; Wherein the present Jurisdiction and Corporation of the Woodmongers is vindicated ; (2) the Original and Nature of Cars and Car-rooms; (3) the Incon- veniences attending the Erroneous Conceit of accounting them Goods and Chattels ; (4) the Mistake concerning Sea-coal Sacks rectified. By W. L. 410, 1649. tlbe Mool^pacfeers. IT is to be presumed that this was no more than a voluntary un- chartered Association, and was superseded by the WOOLMEN. Stow observes (ed. 1633,^640): "The Company of Wooll-packers, I know not what to say of them, because it seemes that there were such men in the Haunse dayes, when the Wooll-Staple flourished, and that our Wooll-merchants had their eminency." In 1588 we find a stationer established in Hosier Lane, Smithfield, at the sign of the Woolpack. The Wool-packers were probably not an union of the operatives or yeomen of the trade employed by the woollers or woolmen ; but the masters who conducted that branch of the business, and it is highly questionable whether they were, at least originally, connected with the Wool-winders. The Association, of whose history Stow avowedly knew next to nothing, long continued to be a distinct and respectable one, under that name ; although, in 1416, John Russell, one of the members, was sentenced to the pillory for slandering an Alderman. It is evident that this was a very ancient body, for it is not only mentioned in a return of 1469, but among the forty-eight Gilds enume- rated and placed in order of priority in 1 5 1 5, it stands forty-fifth. 154 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. proposed Corporation or Society of IRetail Urafcers ot Xonfcon anfctbe Suburbs. IT appears that in 1636 a charter was in readiness to pass the Great Seal for incorporating both freemen of the City and others resident within three miles' compass, as well as foreigners (by special payment to the Crown), being Dealers by Retail, except weavers, tilers, and brick- layers, who were reserved for future consideration. But as we hear no more of the scheme, which was set on foot, of course, as a method of raising funds for the King, it probably dropped, although considerable efforts were made to give effect to the charter. VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS WHICH SURVIVE IN THAT FORM. ffellowsbip porters. 'THHIS is a body of some length of standing, and still preserves the -A- form of an Association, but has never, we believe, been chartered or incorporated. The members, all of whom appear to be practical working craftsmen, discharge the duties of loading and unloading at the Docks and the vicinity, and occasionally have collisions with rival unions. The Porters possess no arms, and use those of the City of London, whence their authority arises. This community does not appear to possess any distinct organization, and is the only survival of many attempts on the part of the journeymen, yeomen, or denizens in trades in former days, to combine for something more than self-defence. But the resources of the Porters are too in- significant to render their influence sensible. The Fellowship Porters appear to have consisted of more than one body, as we hear of the Billingsgate section, about 1620, as having, "time out of mind," attended to that particular service. The Fishmongers' Company used to appoint two of its freemen Tackle-Porters, as they were termed, to attend to the lading and unlading of its vessels at the water-side. Some light is cast on this Fraternity by the City Regulations of 1350, where their tariff between certain distances is laid down, and by the entries in the Remembrancia, wherein it is set forth that the charges made by them for portage or porterage had been so settled by Act of Common Council, and that the employment was a very ancient THE FELLOWSHIP PORTERS. 155 one, whereon a great number of poor freemen of the City depended for their livelihood. Among others who complained of the unreason- able demands of the Porters were certain maltsters of Ilcnlcy-on- Thames. The tariff chargeable by the Packers' Water-side Porters for landing or shipping goods and persons, not freemen, was regulated by the City authorities, and a table of rates is appended to An Abridgement of the Charter, 1680. Maitland (1739-56) speaks of the Porters as consisting of Tackle and Ticket Porters, and says that they constituted a Fraternity by Act of Common Council in 1646, with the power of annually choosing from among themselves twelve Rulers, six of each denomination (two of whom must be registrars), for the good government of the whole and the settlement of all differences, but with a right reserved to the Court of Aldermen to intervene and arbitrate. The church of St. Mary-at-Hill, between Billingsgate and East-Cheap, is the annual scene of an ancient ceremony or usage performed by this Fraternity, of which the members, on the Sunday next after Midsummer Day, attend here in the morning, and while the psalm is being sung, march up, two and two, to the rails of the communion table, where, in two basins placed there for the purpose, they make their offerings. The rest of the congregation follow the example, and the fund thus collected is applied to the relief of the aged and sick of the body. There were, as in the case of other Associations, similar bodies in the provinces, and more especially at the sea-ports. Among those at Faversham some were known as backers. To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in the Commons Hovse of Parliament now assembled. The humble Petition of 15,000 poore labouring men, known by the name of Porters, and the lowest Members of the Citie of London. 1641. A broadside. Other unincorporated Societies, whose names occur in early official lists as of recognised position, were the Foisters, Netters, Mailmakers, Corsors [Horse-dealers], Cartwrights, Box-makers, and Instrument- makers. The three last are mentioned in 1672 as branches of the Carpenters. The Corsors were incorporated with the Innholders, the Mailmakers with the Pouchmakers, and the Foisters (perhaps) with the Watermen. 156 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. FOREIGN CORPORATIONS. Hlten Weavers. 1~) EGULATIONS for this Union or Fellowship were made in 1362 jTv at its own request, and three Overseers appointed to be chosen, to control all proceedings, to maintain peace, and to adjudicate in certain cases, as for instance, where a workman purloined from his master the first time, and both were willing to have the matter amicably settled. jflemisb Weavers. How far this evidently very ancient body was identical with the Alien Weavers just mentioned, or, again, with the Easterlings of the Steelyard, with which riparian vicinity they were apparently connected, we hardly know. The bye-laws proposed in 1366 for formal acceptance by the Corporation speak of their long establishment in London ; but the oldest mention of them seems to be the royal protection accorded to John Kemp, a Fleming, on his coming to London in 1330 to follow the art, and to teach it to others. The encouragement thus given led to an influx of seventy families, it is said, from Flanders and Brabant, who quartered themselves in the Ward of Candlewick or Cannon Street. The draft code of 1366 seems to point to a good deal of habitual discord among the members of the colony. It also contains a provision that all existing ordinances may remain in force. Certain questions, if in dispute, are to be referred to a committee of four-and-twenty members, chosen or approved by the Mayor and Aldermen. This was a large number, and if it was not disproportionate, indicates a very extensive assemblage of artificers and a very prominent industry. It elsewhere appears that the Flemish Weavers and those of Brabant were distinct communities, and that in 1370 the serving-men of the former stood for hire in the churchyard of St. Lawrence Pountney, and those of the latter in that of St. Mary Somerset at Queenhithe. They were placed thus far apart, because they were addicted to fighting each other. But no opposition was offered by either or by the authorities to the common employment of workmen by the two Associations. MERCHANTS OF TIIK STAI'LK. 157 OTHER RIVERSIDE TRADING COMPANIES. ALLIED to the Livery Gilds and other Fellowships of a mercantile character by community of origin and aim were certain other Associations, which arose to meet the gradual development of com- mercial enterprise, and to co-operate with such bodies as the London Companies at home in carrying native products or manufactures abroad, and exchanging them for those of other countries. These cognate corporations were : 1. The Easterlings of the so-called Still or Steel yard [Stabile Emporium^ or Staple- Hof]. Of the members of this Gild probably the best known name is that of George Gizen, whose portrait by Holbein is preserved at Berlin. 2. The Almaines [Germans], belonging to the Hanse or Gild of the merchants of Almaine, first in Thames Street, and then at Bishopsgate, or perhaps, for some time concurrently at both. This body was possibly connected with the Hamburgh merchants, who in the time of Elizabeth had quarters in Lothbury at Founders' Hall. MERCHANTS OF THE STAPLE. 3. The Merchants of the Staple, incorporated by Edward III, *** Their original Staples seem to have been at Calais and Antwerp. '58 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. MERCHANTS ADVENTURERS. 4. The Merchants Adventurers, incorporated by Edward IV. #*# Their privileges, etc., were confirmed and enlarged by Elizabeth in 1564. This body had been originally a branch of the Mercers, and had sprung from the ancient Fraternity of St. Thomas a Becket ; but it eventually severed itself from that tie, and became an independent trading body in London and elsewhere. Its members simultaneously belonged, in some cases, to the City Gilds. The principle of dividing a vessel into shares, which was older than this Society, and is a feature in the story of Richard Whittington, still prevails. A sixty-fourth part is, we believe, the minimum. MERCHANTS OF ELBING. 5. The Merchants of Elbing, incorporated by Elizabeth. MERCHANTS OF THE LEVANT. MERCHANTS OF RUSSIA. 6. The Moscovite Company, incorporated by Edward VI. #*# Their privileges were confirmed and enlarged by Elizabeth. MERCHANTS OF THE LEVANT. 7. The Levant, or Turkey Company, incorporated by Elizabeth. *% Their charter was confirmed by James I. i6o VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. THE VIRGINIA COMPANY. 8. The Virginia, Bermudas, or Sommers Islands Company THE AFRICAN COMPANY. 9. The African Company, incorporated in 1588 by Queen Elizabeth, again in 1662 as The Company of Royal Adventurers of England to Africa, and a third time in 1672, under the title of The Royal African Company. This scheme, owing to opposition, chiefly by the Dutch, was by no means successful, even with parliamentary support and the prestige of having the King himself as its honorary Governor. A passing mention of its foundation and scope may prove of interest on more than one account, however, as we have at this moment all sorts of similar speculations on foot for the ostensible betterment of our fellow-creatures. In 1791 English coins were struck for a body designated the Sierra MERCHANTS OK SPAIN. 161 Leone Company for local currency; and in 1818 an ackcy and half ackcy were issued, with the head and titles of George III. and the words Ackey Trade below the bust, and on the reverse the arms of the African Company, with the legend : Free Trade to Africa by Act of Parliament, 1750. MERCHANTS OF EAST INDIA. 10. The Merchants of East India. *** Incorporated in 1600. In 1603 they are described as " the Governours and Assistants of the East Indian Marchants in London," in a pamphlet printed in that year. In 1628 they term themselves " the Governour and Company of Merchants of London, trading to the East Indies." 1 1. New East India Company. #** Amalgamated with No. 10 in 1699 as the United East Indian Company. MERCHANTS OF SPAIN. 12. The Merchants of Spain, incorporated by Elizabeth, c.c. 1 1 162 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. 1 2*. s The Foreign Shipwrights without the Liberties, incorporated in 1612. NEW FRENCH MERCHANTS ADVENTURERS. 13. The New French Merchants Adventurers. ** Arms were granted to them in 1616. FRENCH MERCHANTS. 14. The Company of French Merchants. THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY. '63 HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. 15. The Hudson's Bay Company, incorporated in 1670. *** This important enterprise and institution led, among other matters, to the substitution of beaver-skin for felt in the hat and cap trade, and injured the Felt- makers. THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY. 1 6. The South Sea Company, 1710-20. Of nos. 1-3 of these corporations some account may be found in ?. small pamphlet by the Rev. W. H. Jones, M.A., published about 1825, 8vo, pp. 24 + title, called, " The Merchants of the Staple ; or, The Wool Trade in England in the Olden Time." 17. The Royal Lustring Company. Charles Knight, in his London, 1842, in an excellent account of the Weavers of Spitalfields, says : — " The silk manufacture at Spitalfields, having received an extraordinary impulse from this occurrence [the arrival of the Huguenots], began to acquire considerable 164 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. importance. The refugees introduced the weaving of the various silk fabrics then known by the names of lustrings, alamodes, brocades, satins, black and coloured mentues, black Padua-soys, ducapes, watered tabbies, and black velvets ; but no sooner had the strangers made a firm footing in England, than, like their prede- cessors, they cried out for protection, and under .the name of the Royal Lustring Company, obtained an Act, prohibiting the importation of foreign lustrings and alamodes. The Lustring Company was, however, defeated, not by Acts of Parliament or foreign competition, but by a change of fashion, which drove lustrings and alamodes out of the market." It was the practice of eminent commercial and other public men in former days, as now, to belong to two or three of these bodies. Beyond them, however, and independent of their control, was at least one other Association, which is proved by documentary testimony to have existed in London from the beginning of the fourteenth century : the Venetian Vice-Consulate and the Standing Committee of Trade of that Republic, which possessed a settlement of some kind in the metropolis. It was from this source and channel that we derived, at and long after that time, supplies of wine, silk, drapery, sugar, confectionery, alum, glass, and other commodities, and either paid for them in cash or in kind, exchanging the foreign goods for tin, wool, iron, hides, and other staples, which, our foreign friends contended, were not invariably of the best quality or of true weight. The Venetian Company is noted as having contributed 2OO/. to the expedition of Henry V. for the recovery of Guienne, and it had a second call in 1415, when Henry was preparing for another French campaign, with a threat that, if it proved contumacious, its rulers would be committed to the Fleet. It may be added, that the " Flanders galleys " of Venice were in the habit of calling, not only at London, but at Dartmouth, Plymouth, Sandwich, Southampton, Rye, and Lynn. In his Historical Essay ', 1836, Herbert supplies a very adequate view of the singularly curious development and evolution of the commercial movement, which began at least as early as the tenth century in the neighbourhood of Thames Street, and which resulted, first, in the establishment of a group of traders, chiefly of foreign origin, between the Tower and Queenhithe ; and, secondly, in their gradual disappear- ance, by amalgamation or decay, as our native industries and industrial societies gained importance, efficiency, and strength. The Hanseatic League may be treated and received as the forerunner and model of all those Fraternities which followed it in steady succession THE TEUTONIC GILD. 165 in other parts of the Continent and in England. It was represented here by the Teutonic Gild, probably the most venerable of all the bodies HALL OF THE TEUTONIC GILD. of that kind, and an establishment which had its seat at Downgate or Dowgate. This Gild seems to have been identical with the " Emperor's men " to whom Ethelred 1 1. in 979 accorded the right of settling in Thames Street on payment of ten pounds of pepper half- yearly to the Crown. This site is supposed, by a distinguished member of the Court of the Grocers' Company, Mr. Kingdon, to have been the spot afterward known as the Steelyard or Stillyard, otherwise and more accurately called Staple-yard or Staple-Hof, being the wharf where the King's Great Beam was kept for the weighing of avoirdupois merchandise. When Howes published his edition of Stow, in 1633, the Old Hall, as it was then called, was still standing ; and we are told that it " is large, builded of Stone, with three arched gates towards the street, the middlemost whereof is farre bigger than the other, and is seldome opened, the other two be mured up : . . ." It is very likely that the custody of the two Beams, the Great one for avoirdupois, and the Small one for troy, standard, was always entrusted to denizens ; but the Pepperers and Corders are the earliest persons of whom there is any certain record in connexion with this matter. As we have stated, the Woollers or Woolmen subsequently attended to the troy balance, and the Grocers to the avoirdupois. In Scotland, the term Tron, if it was identical with Troy, signified the weighing-machine for heavy goods also. It was through the temporary influence of Richard Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III., when he was, in 1257, nominated King of the Romans, that the Teutonic Gild gained a stronger footing in London 1 66 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. and throughout the kingdom. But this colony seems to have finally transferred its headquarters to the neighbourhood of Bishopsgate ;. for in 10 Edward I. arose the dispute between the Germans and the Mayor respecting the repair of the wall in the latter quarter, to which they would scarcely have been liable, if located on the riverside. In the thirty-third year of the same reign the Teutonic Gild is quoted as well established at Bishopsgate. Stow tells us that the Merchants of Almaine, whom we apprehend that he confounds with the Flemings, imported wheat, rye, and other grain, cable, ropes, masts, pitch, tar, flax, hemp, linen cloth, wainscot, wax, steel, and other profitable commodities. The Hithes hereabout, Edred's Hithe, Queen-hithe, etc., were all landing places for goods, both from English and foreign ports, and stations where custom was payable. The receipts from the vessels un- loaded at Queenhithe belonged in the time of Henry III. to his queen, or were usually farmed by some adventurer, who paid his composition at Clerkenwell half-yearly. In 5 Edward VI. the Crown sequestered the privileges of the foreign Merchants of the Staple and the other alien communities carrying on trade in that vicinity, in consequence of complaints made as to their interference with the rights and interests of denizens. But of course a strong element of this character survived, as it continues to do. Custom and prescription have always offered obstacles, a kind of vis inertia^ to the literal execution of a country's laws. THE GREAT COMPANIES. THE GREAT COMPANIES. T /I&ercers. I HIS Gild, at present acknowledged to be the premier one in ceremonial pre- cedence, is also probably one of the most ancient, and doubtless, like many or most of the others, existed by royal licence some centuries before it acquired a charter and a fixed constitution. The origin of this and other communities of the same class is seldom traceable beyond a point of time when they are accidentally brought to light by some fortuitous or indirect means. The genesis of the Mercers is almost lost in myth. It is associated with the Hospital of St. Thomas of Aeon, founded at the end of the twelfth century by the sister of Thomas a Becket and her husband on the site of the birthplace of St. Thomas. The founders, as well as Gilbert a Becket, St. Thomas's father, are reputed to have belonged to the Fraternity of Mercers ; and the latter is supposed, prior to the Refor- mation, to have been intimately allied to the religious establishment, simultaneously dedicating itself, on the common principle and law of all these mediaeval secular bodies, to the conduct of trade and the performance of almsdeeds. We have nothing better than presumption and tradition to guide us until we reach the close of the reign of John, when the Mercers gave their first Mayor to the City in the person of Robert Searle, although the two earliest magistrates, Henry and Robert FitzAlwyn are equally claimed by the Gild as members. The fortunes of the Mercers remained bound up during a very lengthened period with those of the Merchants Adventurers, and down to 1526 the two bodies registered their transactions in the same books. The Adventurers, in fact, conducted the export and import trade in alliance with the London firm or body ; and the goods in which they dealt were multifarious enough about the middle of the fifteenth cen- 169 I7O THE GREAT COMPANIES. tury, comprising linen cloths, buckrams, fustians, satins, jewels, fine woollen and linen wares, cottons, threads, drugs, wood, oil, wine, salt, copper, and iron. In other words, the Gild at first engrossed the sale by retail of an assortment of items which subsequently became separate industries and employments. In 1393 the first charter was obtained, probably through the agency of Sir Richard Whittington, from Richard II., at a cost to the recipients of over 8//. out of a total income of less than 3OO/. ; and shortly after a licence in mortmain was granted by the same prince, enabling the Mercers to hold land to the value of 2O/. a year. In this parent charter they are described as the " Men of the Mistery of Mercery of the City of London." But large as was the outlay, the incorporation of the Mercers un- doubtedly repaid them, and bore indeed early fruit, not only in the confidence in their stability which it imparted, but in the distinction which it brought in its train. We shall probably never know to the full extent the obligations under which the then young Company lay to Whittington, through his benefactions to it after his death and during his lifetime, as well as through his good offices with the King. It is evident from existing documents that his standing with Richard II. was exceptionally influential ; and it is equally clear that Dean Colet and others were favourably induced, by the relationship between him and his sovereign, to give a preference to the body to which he belonged as one of the founders, in making their testamentary and other dispositions. For we find that with the fifteenth century the bequests to the Mercers for charitable, religious, or corporate purposes began to flow steadily in ; and, from their prevailing nature as freeholds in the central portion of the City, laid the foundation of that princely estate which now belongs to the Gild either in fee or trust. Foremost in the long series of the benefactions of Sir Richard Whittington, curiously enough, however, was his purchase in 1408 or 1409 of Leaden Hall,1 a private residence of the Nevilles and De Bohuns, and his presentation of it, not to the Mercers, but to the City authorities. The second charter of 1424-5, dated from Westminster, February 14, 3 Henry VI., was accorded at the express request of the four executors of Whittington ; and besides being an inspeximus of that °f J393> bestowed on the Company the right of a common seal, and of suing and being sued in all courts. 1 A front view of Leaden Hall, as it appeared in 1756, is given in Maitland, second edition, vol. ii., p. 999. The market is said to have been established by Sir Simon Eyre in 1446. THE MKRCKRS. 171 Some years elapsed after the concession of the first charter before the Company proceeded, so far as our present knowledge extends, to the formulation of Ordinances or bye-laws for the internal management of its affairs and the proper control of its officers and members. Such a code was framed in 1407, and again in 1410; and in 1424, consequently on the important Whittington benefactions, Ordinances were made for his almshouses. The ordinary bye-laws above mentioned, and those which succeeded them at intervals, provided for the trial by the Company's officers of all weights and measures belonging to freemen ; and a few years prior THE DEATH OF WHITTINGTON (from his MSS. Ordinances, 1424). (1403) the Company purchased on its own account two brass measures, an ell and a yard long respectively, and a pile of brass, with a coffer to hold them. But neither in these more ancient bye-laws nor in those of later origin was the power of search, which was the usual accom- paniment of them, bestowed ; nor do the Mercers seem to have ever possessed any legal title of this description, although they at one time exercised it in some particulars. Sir Richard Whittington had died in the beginning of 1423-4 at his house in the parish of St. Michael Paternoster in the Royal [Reole], and his will was proved by his four executors in March of the same year. 172 THE GREAT COMPANIES. All his foundations and bequests were confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1432. The Mercers did not enter into possession of the income till 1424, or at least the earliest accounts bear that date. The revenue was at that time 28o/. us. id.,1 and the expenditure 26$!. us. ^\d., while the aggregate corporate revenue of the Company appears to have been very little, if at all, in excess of 3OO/. ; and indeed in 1448 it is returned at only 26 1/, odd. A distinction, however, is to be drawn and under- stood between the estate of the Mercers as a Gild and the personal property of the members. For a levy of 500 marks on the Mercers, toward the expense of the king-maker Warwick in his expedition to the North in 1461, was explicitly raised from 145 freemen of the Gild ; and in the statute of I Edward IV. for the quieting of titles, the City Companies are only indicated in general terms, whereas the Mercers stand alone in being mentioned by name. Unquestionably the capital incidents in the early annals of the Mercers were their appointment, under the will of Whittington (Sep- tember 5, 1421), as trustees of the charities which he established, and their selection by Dean Colet to the permanent care and control of the new school of St. Paul's, founded and endowed by him after his father, Sir Henry Colet's, death in 1510. It is almost needless to point out, that in each of these cases the eleemosynary spirit was paramount ; that the value of the foundations at the period, and very long after, was comparatively small ; and that the vast expansion of the rentals or other income has partaken of the influence and benefit of the revolutionary change in the estimation of land and tenements in London. It is not more than equitable to state, that not only was Colet the third person who had instituted an educational seminary in St. Paul's Churchyard, but that the notion had been broached so early as 1456 by the Master and Brethren of St. Thomas of Aeon, in Cheapside, who petitioned Parliament for power to found a grammar school " to teach all that will come." The whole of the Whittington estate amounted, as we have said, in 1425 to 28o/. a year ; the Colet, when it had been augmented by supplementary grants under his will, represented no more than II2/. and a fraction ; and both, the former more especially, included leading sites in prominent City thoroughfares. A portion of the Dean's post- humous benefaction consisted of property at Stepney, which was claimed by his heirs, because the testator was not entitled to amortize copyhold ; but the difficulty was arranged, and this property is at present, next to that in the City itself, the most lucrative part of the 1 The present income appears to be over I2,ooo/. a year. THE MERCERS. 173 bequest, the character of the locality having undergone of late years an entire transformation through buiding leases and railway enterprise. The Whittington estate seems to have lain exclusively in the metro- polis, and to have been distributed among the parishes of St. Martin's Outwich; St. Mary-le-Bovv ; St. Lawrence, Old Jewry; St. Mary Mag- dalen, Milk Street ; All Hallows, Barking ; St. Dunstan's in the East ; St. Leonard, Eastcheap ; and others— all in the vicinity of Cornhill and such now busy and densely built neighbourhoods. The present writer has elsewhere * entered into some particulars of the life of Whittington and of his charitable foundations, partly carried out by his four executors. He was a just and upright man, but toward the close of his career seems to have contracted the character of being a somewhat severe and even arbitrary reformer of abuses. His personal influence and prestige lent his views and aims peculiar weight ; and so long as he lived he was a law to the City. One of the , . f. . . .. i ^1 i CREST OF WHITTINGTON. ordinances of his college was, that the almsmen should pray in perpetuity for the souls of Sir Richard Whittington- and 1 Tales and Legends, 1892, p. 406 et seqq. But it may be suggested that the rough portrait inserted above is a comparatively late reproduction of an earlier print or likeness, when the cat myth had acquired currency. The assignment of the prodigy was, perhaps, topographically unfortunate, as there is no ground for supposing that in that part of Africa the domestic cat was unknown or uncommon even in the fifteenth century. THE GREAT COMPANIES. ORIGINAL ARMS. wife, Sir William Whittington and his wife, father and mother of the said Sir Richard, and King Richard II., promoter of Sir Richard Whittington; and the solidity of his reputation led to the Mercers, after his death, approaching Henry VI., through his executors, with a prayer for a new charter. The youthful and somewhat feminine physiognomy of Richard II., who may be treated as with Whittington the co-founder of the Mercers, possibly favoured the no- tion, when the Company transferred its allegiance to the blessed Virgin, that a very slight modification of the portrait in the old arms, as they are given in the folio edition of Stow, 1633, would answer for an effigy of the new patron. WTe should rather have seen the king retained. The Mercers owed more to him than to Our Lady. The original foundation of Colet, whose father, as well as himself, belonged to the Company, consisted of lands in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire ; and had he not added by will the residuary devises, and been followed by others, particularly Sir Baptist Hicks, Viscount Campden, who had amassed a fortune as a mercer, the school could not have assumed its actual proportions without substantial assistance. By the scheme removing the building elsewhere, all the old atmo- sphere and association have been necessarily sacrificed. As a modern piece of machinery for the public instruction of boys, the great seminary at Hammersmith is, no doubt, incomparably preferable. Its historical ties were completely severed, when it ceased to stand under the shadow of the cathedral of which its founder was Dean. Before we quit the subject of Colet's St. Paul's, to which we can obviously devote no more than a passing notice, we may call attention to the statutes which the Dean established for this charity, of which all are conceived in that spirit of frigid austerity which distinguished scholastic training down to modern days, and of which some, again, are curious as demonstrating the primitive arrangements for the comfort of the boys. For the period which witnessed its institution, in 1512, the school, with its high-master, under-master, and chaplain, must have been regarded as a great advance and improvement, preceding by so many years Christ's Hospital and the other Edward the Sixth schools. Nor, when we take into account the experimental or tentative character which belonged to the new St. Paul's (for there had been- at least two THE MERCERS. 175 antecedent places of instruction close at hand), arc we at all to blame Colet for the harshness, narrowness, and barbarism, from our point of view, of many of his injunctions. On the contrary, let us always remember his answer to those who expressed surprise at his not placing the school under clerical super- intendence : " That there was no absolute certainty in human affairs ; but, for his part, he found less corruption in such a body of citizens (as the Mercers) than in any other order or degree of mankind." This manly secularism placed him immeasurably in advance of his time. In connexion with St. Paul's School, though at a period posterior to the founder's time, it is to be remembered that the boys, like those of Merchant Taylors', occasionally, in the reign of Elizabeth, performed plays before the Court and otherwise. The Merchant Taylors' boys are often called Mulcaster's, or Munkester's children, from the name of the first head-master, Richard Mulcaster, under whom (a man of some literary taste) they were trained. It is so far curious, that with both their earliest acquisitions out of their own funds they afterward parted. These were the Pye at Bishops- gate, consisting of three messuages and eight shops, valued at io/. a year, and the Crown-field in Westcheap, being a meadow and shops, valued at 7/. 13^. 4^. a year. It had been to enable them to hold the former that they sought and obtained the licence in mortmain. But the most signal and tantalizing example of unlucky miscarriage occurred to the Mercers in a case, where some land in the suburbs of London was devised to them, and subsequently allowed to pass from their possession. In 1513, the widow of Thomas Bradbury, Mercer, and late Lord Mayor of London, gave to the Company in trust for certain superstitious and charitable uses land of the then estimated value of £20 a year, being the Conduit Mead and appurtenances. This was the ground on which New Bond Street and the adjoining thoroughfares were eventually built ; and, as Herbert remarks even in 1836, had the Mercers kept the property, " it would have more than quadrupled the value of all their present estates." By deed of October 18, 1618, the Irish Society erected a portion of the County of Londonderry, the whole of which had been vested in it by letters patent of March 29, 1613, into a Mercers' manor, and con- veyed it to the Company by feorTment two days later, subject to the usual conditions. The Company associated with it as sub-sharers the Innholders, the Cooks, the Broderers, and the Masons. Upon the re-incorporation of the Society in 1662, the Mercers commenced a system of letting their manor for successive terms of years at a rental 1/6 THE GREAT COMPANIES. and fine. The first lease (1663-1713) was at 3OO/. a year and 5oo/. fine ; the second was raised to 420!. a year and 6,ooo/. fine ; and the third, which was for sixty-one years and three lives, realized to the Mercers the same rent, with a fine of i6,5oo/. The last life expired in 1831, and the Mercers have since managed the property through an agent. The present may be the most suitable place for presenting a view of the mode in which the property was apportioned among the fifty-five corporations then existing, and in which the manors were constituted. The Companies marked with an asterisk have parted with their interest. MERCERS. Innholders. Cooks. Broderers. Masons. GROCERS.* (No sub-sharers.) DRAPERS. Tallow-Chandlers. SKINNERS. Stationers. White-Bakers. Girdlers. MERCHANT-TAYLORS.* See ClotJiworkers. HABERDASHERS.* Wax-Chandlers. Turners. Founders. FISHMONGERS.* Leathersellers. Plaisterers. Glaziers. Basket-Makers. Musicians. GOLDSMITHS. Cordwainers. Painter-Stainers. Armourers. SALTERS. Dyers. Saddlers. Cutlers. Joiners. Woolmen. IRONMONGERS.* Brewers. Scriveners. Coopers. Pewterers. Barber Surgeons. Carpenters. VINTNERS. Residue of Grocers' Share. Woodmongers. Weavers. Plumbers. Poulterers. Tylers and Bricklayers. Blacksmiths. Fruiterers. Curriers. CLOTH WORKERS.* Overplus from Merchant- Taylors' share. Butchers. Brown-Bakers. Upholders. Bowyers. Fletchers. Herbert furnishes an interesting account of Mercery, with an explana- tion of the ancient meaning and scope of the term, and he also refers to the early state of the corresponding industry in France. " Mercerie," he says, " comprehended all things sold by retail by the little balance or small scales, in contradistinction to things sold by the beam or in gross." He adds that the mercers who in 1299 attended the French fairs, if they THE MERCERS. 177 sat on the ground to sell their wares paid a halfpenny toll, but if they occupied a stall they paid double. As early as the commencement of the eighth century, merceries are mentioned as dutiable in France. But we seem to have very little information about them prior to the notices in the Charta Mercatoria of Edward I. (1302). The ancient mercer was a pedlar ; but he was so at a period when such a mode of conducting inland business was almost the only one available. His multifarious stock and transactions, with his relatively limited expenditure, favoured the growth of his trade ; and circumstances eventually detached from it those branches which became by natural development separate vocations, until at last the mercer reserved to himself only the higher and costlier class of goods in his own department, and allowed the rest to devolve on the draper and the haberdasher. As the butchers with bad meat, the fishmongers with putrid or fore- stalled fish and unlawful nets, the bakers with bread of light weight or unwholesome quality, and the vintners with wine unfit for use, were a constant source of trouble to the authorities, so the mercers come under our notice at regular intervals as vendors of false blankets and other cognate wares, the haberdashers and hatters of spurious head-gear, and the shoemakers and cordwainers as purveyors of commodities fashioned out of defective or fictitious material. But it is the individual manufac- turer or retailer who is in all cases the delinquent, and who is brought to justice by the Fraternity or Gild. One of the circumstances which stimulated the demand for silk goods was the presentation to Queen Elizabeth in 1560 by her silk-woman, Mistress Montague, of a pair of silk stockings ; and it is said that Eliza- beth thereafter never wore any other material. She had always used cloth. It may be inferred from the terms of the dedication prefixed to a popular tract of 1607, that Elizabeth appointed a special Mercer to supply her wardrobe. Sir William Stone at one time held this position. The Mercers profited by the increasing taste for expenditure and show under the later Tudor and the Stuart rule, not merely in the intro- duction of silk as a substitute for cloth in articles of apparel, but in the demand for other commodities on sale by them. Stow's Continuator mentions stockings of Spanish silk as worn both by Henry VIII. and his son ; but they were exceptions to the prevailing custom, and, in the former case at least, were a gift from Spain. The same writer remarks that gowns of Bruges satin, cushions and window-pillows of velvet, which at one period were considered suitable only for persons of the highest rank, had come into use in the City at last. Occasional complaints were addressed by the Crown to the Corpora- C.c. 12 178 THE GREAT COMPANIES. tion, accompanied by threats of revocation or forfeiture in reference to the alleged exorbitance of charges made by the mercers for their goods, even when the prices had generally receded ; and in one instance, when the Lords of the Council intervened (1551), the Mayor prayed the Mercers to sell as cheaply as they could, " although to their loss," which may have been no more than the commercial parlance which is so often heard among us still. For among all the manifold forms of business, larger fortunes were probably made by mercery than by any other, as it comprehended such a wide variety of articles in constant demand, and appealed to all classes, till the draper and haberdasher constituted separate departments, and subdivided the trade. The earliest vestige of a seat of business, rather than a Hall, occurs under 1413-14, when the Company hired or borrowed from the Master of St. Thomas of Aeon a small room, which at once served as an office and a chapel. But in 1517, at a date more or less posterior to the evacuation of that locality by the Ironmongers, whose spacious quarter THE OLD HALL. had been immediately contiguous, what is termed the New Hall was commenced, and was finished in 1552, although the new chapel had been consecrated so far back as 1523. In 1538 the Company, on the suppression of the college of St. Thomas of Aeon, purchased the site and buildings, including the church, cloister, chapter-house, burial- ground, and other houses, with the church, parsonage, and advowson of St. Mary Colechurch, and other properties, for 969^ i^s. 6d., and a reserved rent of jL. Ss. io the Freemen, householders, and Livery of the Company amounted to seventy-four; in 1537, there were fifty-three only; in 1573, they represent themselves as having shrunk in number, partly by reason, no doubt, of the incessant exactions of the Crown; in 1701, they had more than quadrupled; in 1722, the number was considerably reduced ; in 1742 the figures again stood within three of those of 1701 ; in 1833, the total was 120; but in 1880, the figures had considerably THK MKRCERS. l8l risen, as the returns of that year shew: Freemen, 166 ; Livery, 157 ; Court, 28 ; Master and Wardens, 3 ; total, 354. In 1892 the Livery numbered 185. The exact computation of numbers in the earlier period is rendered difficult by the inability in every instance to ascertain whether the statistics given are inclusive. The returns made to the Royal Com- mission of 1882 are often conflicting. The figures given on page 180 are supposed by Herbert to represent liverymen of a City Gild ; but the spirit and pose, and even the fall of the dress, appear to be borrowed from the familiar group of Venetian senators or decemvirs in the work of Vecellio, published in 1 590. We apprehend the subjoined representations to be truer to English costume. LIVERYMEN TEMP. HENRY VI. (A.D. 1444.) LIVERYMAN TEMP. JAMES I. With the exception of Richard II., its first patron, whose portrait formed part of its arms, till he was displaced by the Virgin, the present Prince of Wales, and a few of the nobility, this Gild is far from being so rich as many in its roll of eminent honorary members, although in its own ranks it has counted a long array of distinguished individuals, who have risen by successful careers in the business, including Sir Richard Whittington ; Sir Godfrey Bullen, a mercer in the Old Jewry and Lord Mayor in 1451, and great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth; the Greshams; Sir Henry Colet ; and Sir Baptist Hicks, afterward Viscount Campden. The Gresham family is mentioned in the person of William Gresham as belonging to the Gild in 1537; this gentleman traded with the Levant, and in some early account books, 1521-39, cited by Mr. Burgon,1 is described as a factor on the Mary George. Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange and Gresham College, the confidential and trusted servant of princes, in his way, and Sir Richard Whittington and Dean Colet in theirs, make ample amends by their noble acts and self-sacrificing careers for the general deficiency of the 1 Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, 1839, vol. i. p. 8. 1 82 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Mercers in famous members. We cannot fail to observe how Sir Thomas, in his letters to Queen Mary, proclaims his pride of his calling and his Gild by subscribing himself Mercer. SIR THOMAS GRESHAM, CITIZEN AND MERCER. From the Painting by Sir Antonio More. In addition to the lustre shed on the Mercers by the names which we have enumerated, it must be remembered that by far the most illustrious of our early printers, William Caxton, served his apprentice- ship to Robert Large, a distinguished and philanthropic member of this Gild, and thus indirectly honoured it ; and Maitland tells us that John Iwyn or Ewin, a London physician, gave the ground on which the monastery of the Greyfriars by Newgate was built, and enrolled himself a lay brother thereof. His fair and honourable repute was long preserved in the designation of the church of St. Nicholas, which THE MERCERS. was more properly called St. Nicholas Iwyn, and only by popular habit St Nicholas Flesh-Shambles. A peculiarly interesting association with the chapel formerly attached to Mercers' Hall remains to be noticed. It was in the porch that Thomas Guy, founder of Guy's Hospital, was bound apprentice to a bookseller in 1660. The Mercers were obliged to go to the Crown for new charters at 184 THE GREAT COMPANIES. least at each change in the succession ; this was, in fact, among the devices of our sovereigns for raising funds. They surrendered their old grants in the customary fashion in 1558, 1560, 1615, and 1684. In 1652, the Long Parliament commanded the attendance of the governing body with their charter; but nothing was actually done. Cromwell left the Companies unmolested, where he did not reinstate them, as happened in one or two instances, in their franchises or possessions. So early as 1658, notwithstanding a long succession of rich bequests and donations, and a commencing advance in the value .of existing properties, the Mercers had found their affairs gradually growing more and more embarrassed. From this date forward their practical com- mand of the market, through industrial and legislative changes, particularly the impulse received from the Huguenot settlement at Spitalfields, had declined, if not determined. On the other hand, the endless series of subsidies, contributions, and assessments to which they, in common with all the other great Fraternities, had been subjected during the Tudor and Stuart reigns, both within l and without the civic jurisdiction, the commercial depression attendant on the Civil War, and the shrinkage in their internal income from the decline in their numbers, united to shake the Company's stability ; and the Great Fire completed and crowned the catalogue of disasters, and brought matters to a climax. In that holocaust perished the Company's Hall and Church, nearly all the premises belonging to it in the City, the Mercers' and St. Paul's Schools, and the Royal Exchange. Gresham College escaped the flames ; and the governing body temporarily used it as a place of meeting and business. Everything was suddenly para- lysed, and the greatest distress prevailed among the officials, servants, and almspeople dependent on the Company's employment or charity. Moreover, the work of restoration was retarded by the want of funds, and even the money obtained was borrowed. This incident, in short, was a blow which it occupied the Mercers nearly a century and a half to retrieve. The details are of no general interest ; but at the com- mencement of the present century (1804) the Company was out of debt. The pecuniary difficulties in which the Companies, and conspicuously the Mercers, found themselves still entangled long after the Fire, naturally tended to relax their conditions of entrance, in order to obtain funds ; and the Common Council considered it necessary in 1697 to pass an Act whereby no one was qualified to be a liveryman of one of the great 1 From the early part of the fifteenth century the Gilds were required to furnish their quota toward the storage of grain and coal against the ever-recurring contin- gency of a dearth. THE MERCERS. 185 Companies, unless he had an estate of £1,000, or of the minor bodies, if he was not worth a moiety of that sum. At the present moment, it stands at the head of all the Gilds, not only by civic precedence, but by virtue of its splendid revenue, which is fast approaching ioo,ooo/. a year. The staff consists of a numerous and liberally paid body of officers and servants, including the Irish Agent and Clerk, of whom the former resides in the manor house at Kilrea, the latter in London. The Irish Agent and the Land Agent are nominated by the Court of Assistants, the Chaplain by the House-warden, and the other officers by the general Court. The Clerk receives emoluments amounting to about 2,ioo/. a year, besides a residence. MERCERS' COMPANY SALT-CELLAR (i/th Century). LITERARY NOTICES. Reasons Humbly offered for the Passing a Bill for the hindering the Home Consumption of East-India Silks, Bengals, etc. And an Answer to the Author of several Objections against the said Bill, in a book, entituled An Essay on the East- India Trade. With a Postscript containing the French King's Decree concerning India Manufactures. By T. S., Weaver in London. 8vo, 1697. An Account of Dr. Assheton's Proposal (as improved and managed by the Worshipful Company of Mercers London) for the Benefit of Widows of Clergy- men and others. I2mo, 1699. Dr. Assheton was Vicar of Beckenham. A Full Account of the Rise, Progress, and Advantages of Dr. Assheton's Proposal. i2mo, 1710. 1 86 THE GREAT COMPANIES. The History of Richard Whittingcon, of his low birth, his great fortune, as yt was plaied by the Prynce's Servants. Entered at Stationers' Hall, February 8, 1604-5. A Ballad, called The vertuous Lyfe and memorable Death of Sir Richard Whit- tington, mercer, sometymes Lord Maiour of the honorable Citie of London. Entered at Stationers' Hall, July 16, 1605. The Famous and Remarkable History of Sir Richard Whittington. By T. H. 8vo, 1656 ; 410, 1678 and n. d. With woodcuts. London's Glory, and Whittington's Renown: Or, A Looking-Glass for Citizens of London. A ballad. [About 1650.] An Old Ballad of Whittington and his Cat. [About 1700.] A broadside. Ahsolutissimus de octo orationis partium construction lihellus. Per Joannem Coletum. 8vo, 1533-4, Mensis Martii. Joannis Coleti Theologi, olim decani diui Pauli, aeditio. 8vo, 1534. This includes some of Lily's Rudiments of Grammar. It was reprinted with the Grammar Rules, etc, for Wolsey's School at Ipswich, 8vo, 1535, 1536. A right fruitfvll monition, cocerning the ordre of a good Christian mans Lyfe. By the famouse Doctour Colete. 8vo, 1563. A Sermon of Consecrating and Reforming, made [in 1511] by John Colet. 8vo, 1661. Preces in Usum Antiques et Celebris Scholae juxta D. Pauli apud Londinates. I2mo, 1677. Sir Thomas Gresham his Ghost. 4to, 1647. On the title-page is a woodcut of Gresham rising full-dressed from his shroud. The tract refers to certain alleged abuses in connexion with his benefactions. CIVIC PAGEANTS. Charity Triumphant ; or, the Virgin Show : Exhibited on the 29th of October, 1655, being the Lord Mayor [Alderman Dethicke's] Day. [By Edm. Gayton.] 4to, 1655. London's Yearly Jubilee : Performed on Friday, October 29, 1686, for the Entertain- ment of the Right Honourable Sir John Peake, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. With a Description of the several Pageants, Speeches, and Songs made proper for the Occasion. All set forth at the proper Costs and Charges of the Right Worshipful the Company of Mercers. Composed by M. Taubman. 410, 1686. London's Anniversary Festival: Performed on Monday, October 29, 1688, for the Entertainment of the Rt. Hon. Sir John Chapman, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London ; being their great Year of Jubilee : with a Panegyric upon the restoring of the Charter ; and a Sonnet provided for the Entertain- ment of the King. By M. Taubman. 410, 1688. THE GROCKRS. I87 Ube Grocers. THE Grocers, eventually one of the wealthiest, most important, and most beneficent of the City Gilds, trace their descent and origin from an amalgamation between the Pepperers of Sopers' Lane and the Spicers of Cheap in 1345. The former community is found, as we OLD ARMS. have elsewhere noted, in the enjoyment of a high and influential position in the earlier moiety of the preceding century, and probably absorbed the Corders, Canvassers, and other bodies ; so that the final union of 1345 amounted to the formation of a great commercial federa- tion, embracing in itself several once separate and thriving industries. But somewhere about 1370 an extension of the business of the Fraternity of St. Anthony, as the united Pepperers and Spicers styled themselves, led to the adoption of the more modern and more com- 1 88 THE GREAT COMPANIES. prehensive name, which obviously signifies engrosser, or dealer in miscel- laneous articles of consumption, as the haberdasher, and indeed the primitive mercer, were in articles of dress or ornament. The development of business in retail forms a subject which has never been hitherto very attentively considered. In the provinces it was long conducted beyond doubt, to a large extent, by the pedlar and traveller ; and even in the streets of London the hawker soon be- comes a familiar figure as well as an early ground of complaint. Fairs and markets were formerly more frequent and more generally diffused, and many of the trades chiefly depended on them for their miscel- laneous custom. The Grocers, Haberdashers, Drapers, and others, until the fashion set in for converting many of the religious and secu- lar buildings into shops or warehouses after the Reformation, must have been almost exclusively merchants in gross, who reached the com- munity through itinerant middlemen. In 1373 we first meet with the current designation in the records of the Company; and it then consisted of 124 members. Three years later a new set of Ordinances was drawn up, directing the two Wardens, now called Masters, to convene four meetings or common congregations in the year, appointing six persons to assist them — in other words, a Court of Assistants — and a common box, to which every member of the Fraternity should contribute tenpence a quarter for the relief of the poor brethren. These regulations further prescribed, that no freeman or member of another mistery should be admitted without the common assent, and should then pay io/. at least — an almost prohibitive scale. The Grocers — still, be it recollected, only a voluntary unchartered Association — are included under the operation of the Ordinances made and published by the City in June, 1386, for the general control of the trades of London ; and among these occur a grant of the power of search to the Wardens or Masters of the Grocers over all spicers, whether freemen or not, and likewise a stipulation that every member of the mistery shall be entitled to have his weights and measures assayed by the Wardens on bringing them to their hotel for the time being. Eight years afterward, in consequence of a joint complaint by the Grocers and certain Italian merchants, the Court of Aldermen sanctioned the appointment by the former of a garbler or inspector of spices and other " subtle wares." We have here an outline of the history of the Grocers anterior to the concession of their parent charter, February 16, 1428-9, 7 Henry VI., wherein they are specified as "the Freemen of the Mistery of Grocers of the King's City of London." By this instrument the new Company was made one perpetual com- TIIK GROCERS. 189 monalty, and was authorized and empowered to appoint a governing body for the supervision and control of its affairs and businesses for ever, to hold a common seal, to receive and enjoy quietly lands and other possessions within the City of London to the value of twenty marks by the year in free burgage, and to have the right of pleading and being impleaded in all courts : provided always that there was nothing in the premisses tending to the diminution of the honour or authority of the Crown. In a Patent Roll of 1447 the power of search, conferred by the civic Ordinances of 1386, was revoked so far as the City liberties were con- cerned, but was enlarged so as to comprise the whole kingdom with that exception, the Court of Aldermen having perhaps preferred to retain this jurisdiction, yet occasionally delegating it to members of the trade as experts. These letters patent amount to a supplementary charter, and are extremely interesting and valuable, as shewing the wide variety acquired at that date in the business of a Grocer. For we perceive that purchasers resorted to their emporia to obtain an almost endless assortment of domestic necessaries. The articles on sale included all kinds of spices, drugs, medicines, oils, ointments, and plaisters, confectionery, syrups, and waters ; and we may particularize (i.) pepper, ginger, cloves, mace, cinnamon, rosin ; (ii.) rhubarb, senna, electuaries, syrups, turpentine, annis, ammonia, wormseed, wax, spike- nard, waters, ointments, oils, plaisters, powders ; (iii.) green ginger, succade, cardamums, dates, almonds ; (iv.) canvas and alum. Many of these articles of commerce had been imported from the shores of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and from the East by the Pepperers and Spicers time out of mind. The last-named produce, which was brought from Egypt and elsewhere, formed the subject of an attempt in London in 1627 to supersede it by a home manufacture, to which a reference will occur again, and about 1660 alum works were estab- lished in Lancashire by James Benson. The enumeration of the groceries supplied for the Goldsmiths' Feast in 1498 embraces cinnamon, sugar, comfits, ginger, carraways, loaf- sugar (6 Ibs. at 2±d. per lb.), pepper, English saffron, dates, almonds (16 Ibs)., milk, raisins, prunes, cloves, mace, aniseed, rice, great raisins, broken sugar, and thirty-eight messes of wafers at $s. 4^. In statements of a somewhat later date oranges occur ; they had been introduced in the reign of Edward I. through his consort Eleanor of Castile, but they are not frequently mentioned in early entries. Loaf-sugar had become much commoner, since in the reign of Henry III. the King desired the Sheriffs of London to send him four loaves to Woodstock, if they could procure so many. Later charters include tobacco, while they omit drugs and THE GREAT COMPANIES. medicines on account of the separate enfranchisement of the Apothe- caries in 1617. The right of search practically determined at the end of the seven- teenth century, when the Company seems to have largely discontinued its direct association with commerce, which was distributing itself into new channels and becoming a machinery composed of wholesale and retail dealers. In the reign of Charles I., when Stow's Continuator wrote (1633), tne Grocers and Apothecaries made Bucklersbury their centre, as the Drapers did Watling Street, the Goldsmiths Cornhill, and so on. The charter of 1607 did not foresee the imminent severance of the Apothecaries from the Grocers, and in it the Company is explicitly re- incorporated as " the Freemen of the Misteries of Grocers and Apothe- caries of the City of London " ; whence it is perhaps inferable that the latter vocation had grown of sufficient importance to be specially named in conjunction with the other. The Apothecaries were in fact ripe for secession ten years before that event occurred. An incident of capital interest in the history and affairs of the present Company was its participation in the Irish scheme of 1613. The Grocers did not join, however, till 1617, when they paid 5,ooo/. for a share, less a portion which was taken over by the Vintners. Be- tween that date and 1622 they expended a further sum of 2,ooo/. on improvements, and the five years' receipts shewed a loss of 6,I5O/. During a long series of years, which embraced the Civil War, nothing was obtained in the shape of rents, and in 1658 an agent, sent over to make inquiries, remitted ioo/. In 1675 matters had so far improved that the Grocers' manor in Ireland could be let on a thirty-one years' lease at a rent of io/. and a fine of 3,66o/. ; but in 1689 political disturbances again threw the country back, and although great expense was incurred from time to time in repairs and works, in 1810 the Company took the management into its own hands from dissatisfaction with the system of leases for lives. In 1872, at a fortunate juncture, the resolution was definitively formed to part with the whole property ; the tithe-charge was redeemed for 7,3 5 8/. and the estate was submitted to auction in eleven lots, pro- ducing 157,2567. The total net rental at the time appears to have been about 2,5oo/. only, but ten lots out of the whole fell into the hands of outside investors. It should be borne in mind that the former owners had laid out very large sums in the endeavour to improve the lands ; and indeed, not merely was the income in 1872 nearly treble the returns of 1831, but the deductions in future years for expenses were lound to decrease. THK GROCERS. 191 The Great Fire, succeeding the long scries of political troubles in England and Ireland, prostrated the Grocers' Company, which lost, like the Mercers, nearly everything which it possessed in the City, its muni- ments being saved by their storage in a tower which escaped the flames. The disaster was not fully retrieved within a century, and the Gild was brought to the verge of ruin. Its plate was melted in the fire ; but the metal was recovered, and was sold toward the relief of the prevailing distress. It is said to have weighed 200 Ibs. It had been gradually accumulating since 1346, when Geoffrey de Halliwell, pepperer of Sopcrs* Lane, presented to the Fraternity a silver chalice and cover, weighing twelve ounces goldsmith's weight, and other things of value. Nothing short of the most generous conduct on the part of individual members of the Company could have averted a catastrophe in 1666 and the following years. Funds were necessarily provided by the Court and Livery out of their own pockets for a lengthened interval, as the corporate estate was in abeyance. The Grocers had received from time to time, in the usual way, renewals or re-grants of their charter from Charles I. and II., James II., William and Mary, and George I. Here again, in the case of the negotiation with the advisers of Charles II. in 1675, the Company suffered great anxiety, as it had been served with a writ of quo warratito, and it was feared that there was a scheme on foot to seize into the King's hands the estates of all the City Gilds. The Grocers deemed it wise to surrender their grant, and to pray for a new one, which was conceded with certain limitations. But James II., desirous of conciliating the City, restored the former privileges ; and in 1690 matters were placed on a still more secure footing by the charter of William and Mary, the King honouring the Company, as indeed Charles II. had done before, by serving the office of Master in 1689, and by directing an annual present of three fat bucks to be sent from Enfield Chase in perpetuity to Grocers' Hall. The royal bounty did not survive the reign. The embarrassments continued, however, down to 1721, the Company experiencing continual difficulty in meeting the most ordinary engage- ments, and the greater part of its charities being suspended. In order to raise money, facilities were afforded to persons desirous of joining ; the ranks of the Court were enlarged from fifty-seven to eighty ; and the Hall was let, first to the Lord Mayor, and then to the Bank of England, on a repairing lease. In 1700 there was an unsuccessful attempt to pay the Company's creditors dr. &/. in the pound. From 1721 an improvement in the affairs seems to have set in, and in 1730 there was a cash balance of 3,ooo/. available for investment. It was put into East India Stock. This period proved a permanent turn- 1 92 THE GREAT COMPANIES. ing-point in the Company's career, and the termination of the long series of misfortunes, which it shared with all bodies similarly situated, until the Revolution of 1688 effected a revival of tranquillity and con- fidence. In 1759 affairs wore a still brighter aspect, and since that date there has been no retrogression. The Grocers appear to be legally independent of their bye-laws ; but those of 1711, founded on the preceding code of 1690, form the basis of their present internal government. The provisions are of the usual character ; and although there is a reference to the right of search, the Company had now practically abdicated its position as a trading corporation, and was becoming what we see it to-day, and what it had indeed been on a humbler and narrower scale in its origin, a philanthropic Gild of the first rank. The later history of the Grocers constitutes a narrative, of which they may justly be proud, since in nearly all the charitable or benevolent foundations entrusted to their management their corporate estate has been largely expended from year to year, in an ever-increasing ratio, in enlarging the original bequests or in adapting them to modern demands and views. Nor has their bounty limited itself to a conscientious main- tenance and spontaneous extension of ancient trusts. For large sums have been devoted to the endowment of scholarships and exhibitions, to purposes of education outside their own schools, and to the support of hospitals. This sort of stewardship has characterized during many passed years not only the policy of the great Companies, but that of several of the so-called minor ones, on which the levies for such objects are naturally apt to bear a more than proportionate relationship to their total incomes. The number of members has fluctuated at different periods. In the first place, when the Pepperers and the Spicers were originally amal- gamated in 1428-9, only twenty- two persons seem to have been con- cerned in the step. In the time of Charles I. (1640) the Court alone consisted of fifty-seven, and in 1688 it was increased under urgent financial pressure to eighty. In 1795, the entire Company numbered between two and three hundred, and of these only forty were grocers ; the influx of new members in 1688 had modified the complexion of the body, and the influence and tendency proved permanent and growing. The present figures are about 630. In 1880 there were 397 freemen, 214 assistants and liverymen, and 21 honorary associates. The Company remained nearly a century after its informal establish- ment in 1345 without a Hall. The governing body first assembled, as we have shown, at the Abbot of Bury's house or hotel in St. Mary Axe. They subsequently seem to have used as a place of business and meet- THE GROCERS. 193 ing the house of one Fulgham, called the Ringed Hall in St. Thomas, Apostle ; and as a matter of evidence and authority the accepted address was "the hotel of the Wardens for the time being." But in 1427, as if the Fraternity then felt itself strong and rich enough to apply for the charter actually obtained shortly after, the Wardens purchased for 320 marks the chapel with other portions of the demesne of Lord Fitz- walter, in what was then known as Conyhope Lane, and proceeded thereon to erect a. building, which became the permanent seat of the then unenfranchised Society. It is supposed that No. 8, Old Jewry marks the site of the entrance to the Old Hall. The structure, with the rest of the City estate, perished, with the sole exception of a tower containing the archives, in 1666; and the Grocers have consequently no ancient plate or other relics of the remote past Their staff, in early days limited to a Beadle, now corresponds to the magnitude of their business and the splendour of their position. The Histories of the Company furnish lists of distinguished freemen and honorary members. Among the former we have to mention C.c. 13 194 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Andrew Bokerell, Pepperer, who held the mayoralty uninterruptedly from 1231 to 1237 ; Sir John de Gisors,1 Pepperer, and Mayor in 1244-5, 1245-6, and 1258-9; Sir Alan de la Zouche, a member of an ancient and illustrious stock; Andrew Aubery, Mayor in 1339-40 and 1351; Sir Thomas Knollis ; Sir Robert and Sir Thomas Chicheley ; Sir John Crosby ; Thomas Lord Coventry ; Charles II. ; Sir Heneage Finch, first Earl of Nottingham ; William III. ; and others. The honorary Grocers comprise Sir John de Londres, parson of St. Anthony, admitted (evidently honoris causa}2 in 1349 ; Sir Philip Sydney, whose obsequies at St. Paul's, February 16, 1586-7, the Company at- tended ; George Monk, Duke of Albemarle ; William Pitt, George Canning, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Napier of Magdala, Sir James Paget, Mr. Anthony Trollope, and Sir Frederick Roberts. GROCERS' COMPANY. WARDENS' GARLANDS. LITERARY NOTICES. The Case of the Company of Grocers Stated. And their Condition in their present Circumstances Truly Represented, Together with a short Account of their Original ; How Eminent they have been in the City, and also of some of their Ancient Privileges and Usages. Designed for Information and Satisfaction of the Members, and Vindication of the Company. By William Ravenhill. Folio, 1682. A Short Account of the Company of Grocers, from their Original. Together with their Case and Condition ... As also how their Revenue is settled. By William Ravenhill, Clerk of the Grocers' Company. 410, 1689. A Short Discourse of the three kindes of Pepper in common use, and certaine special medicines made of the same. By Walter Bailey, M.D. 8vo, 1588. A briefe and short discourse of the Vertue and Operation of Balsame. By the same. 8vo, 1585. 1 This very eminent man resided at a mansion in Basing Lane, subsequently known as Gerard's Hall, and for a very long period prior to its demolition in 1852 converted into an hotel. Several members of the family of Basing appear in the early records. z Unless he acted as Chaplain, in which case he may have been on the Livery. The Chaplain to the Drapers' Company is still a liveryman. TIIK GROCKRS. IQ5 A Discovrse of the medicine called Mithridatium. By the same. 8vo, 1585. This was a confection of opium, otherwise called Thcriacuin. The Metamorphosis of Tobacco. 4to, 1602. Works for Chimney Sweepers: Or, A Warning for Tobacconists. 410, 1602. A Defence of Tobacco. By Roger Marbcck. 410, 1602. Perfvming of Tobacco, and the great Abvse committed in it. With many other ancient and modern Perfumings. . . . Taken out of the new Historic or Illvstration of Plants, written by Matth : de L' Obcl. Translated by I. N. 410, 1611. De L'Obel was keeper of Lord Zouch's Physic-Garden at Hackney. A Proclamation touching Tobacco. 1625. A broadside. The same. . . . 1626. „ A Proclamation for the well ordering of Tobacco. 1627. A broadside. The Armes of the Tobacconists. 1630. A broadside with a woodcut. Tobacconist originally signified not a vendor, but a smoker, of the weed. An Ordinance concerning the Excise of Tobacco. December 23, 1643. 410, 1643. *% Two editions. An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons for the Regulating of the Rates on the Customes and Excise of Tobacco. 410, 1644. A Proclamation, prohibiting the Planting, Setting, and Sowing of Tobacco in England and Ireland, according to an Act of Parliament therein specified. 1661. A broadside. The Venimous Qualities of Tobacco. 410, 2 leaves. The Women's Complaint against Tobacco. 410, 1676. The Touchstone or Triall of Tobacco, whether it be good for all Constitutions. 410, 1676. A Proclamation restraining the abusive Venting of Tolacco. A true Report concerning the worthy accompt of Tobacco, approved in experience by the Party and Reporter himself. By R[ichard] B[rowneJ, Clerk of the Green Cloth.— MS. Ashmole. A Proclamation for prohibiting the Importation of Allvme, and the buying and spending thereof, in any His Maiesties Dominions. 1625. A broadside. A Relation of James Benson's Undertaking the Allum at the Allum Work, in Lancashire (1660). .See Bright's Catalogue of books sold at Sotheby's, 1845, No. 3346. A Curious Treatise of the Nature and duality of Chocolate. By Anthonio Colmenero, Doctor in Physic and Chirurgery. Translated by James Wads- worth. 4to, 1640. The Nature of the drink Kauhi, or Coffe, and the Berey of which it is made. I2mo, Oxford, 1659. A Cup of Coffee. 410, 1663. The Vertues of Coffee. Set forth in the Works of the Lord Bacon . . . 4to, 1663. A Satyr against Coffee. A folio leaf. [About 1680.] The Natural History of Coffee, Thee, Chocolate, Tobacco. 4*0* 1682. An Essay upon the Nature and Qualities of Tea. By John Ovington, M. A. 1 2mo, 1699. Wholesome Advice against the Abuse of Hot Liquors. Particularly of Coffee, Chocolate, Tea, Brandy, and Strong Waters. By Dr. Duncan, of the Faculty of Montpelier. 8vo, 1706. 196 THE GREAT COMPANIES. A Description and History of the Coffee Tree. By Sir James Douglas. Folio, 1727. An Answer to the Sugar-Bakers or Sugar-Refiners Paper. Folio, 1695. A profitable and necessarie Discourse, for the meeting with the bad Garbling of Spices, vsed in these daies. And against the combination of the workemen of that office, contrarie vnto common good. Composed by diuers Grocers of London, where in are handled such principall matters as followeth in the Table before the booke. 410 [1591]. CIVIC PAGEANTS, ETC. The Triumphs of Honor and Industry : A Solemnity performed through the City, at the Confirmation and establishment of the Right Honorable, George Bowles. In the Office of his Majesties Lieutenant, the Lord Mayor of the famous City of London. Taking beginning at his Lordships going, and proceeding after his Return from receiving the Oath of Mayoralty at Westminster, on the morrow next after Simon and Judes day, October 29, 1617. By Thomas Middleton. 4to, 1617. The Triumphs of Honor and Virtue : A Noble Solemnity performed through the City, at the sole Cost and Charges of the Honourable Fraternity of Grocers, at the Confirmation and Establishment of their most worthy Brother, the Right Honorable Peter Proby, in the high office of his Majesty's Lieutenant, Lord Mayor and Chancellor of the famous City of London. Taking beginning at his Lordship's going, and perfecting itself after His return from receiving the Oath of Mayoralty at Westminster, on the morrow after Simon and Jude's Day, being the 29 of October, 1622. By Thomas Middleton. 4to, 1622. London's Triumph, Celebrated October 29, 1659, in honour of the much honoured Thomas Allen, Lord Mayor of the said City, presented and personated by an European, an Egyptian, and a Persian, and done at the Costs and Charges of the ever to be honoured Company of Grocers. By J. Tatham. 410, 1659. London's Triumphs Presented in several delightful Sccenes, both on the Water and Land, and celebrated in Honour to the deservedly honored Sir John Frederick, Knight and Baronet, Lord Mayor of the City of London. At the Costs and Charges of the Worshipfull Company of Grocers. By John Tatham. 4to, 1661. London Triumphant ; or, the City in Jollity and Splendour : Expressed in various Pageants, Shapes, Scenes, Speeches, and Songs : invented and performed for Congratulation and Delight of the well-deserving Sir Robert Hanson, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. At the Cost and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Grocers : His Majesty gracing the Triumphs with his Royal Presence. Written by Thomas Jordan. 4to, 1672. Some copies do not mention the King's presence. His Majesty dined after the proceedings at Guildhall. London in its Splendour: Consisting of triumphant Pageants, whereon are repre- sented many Persons richly arrayed, properly habited, and significant to the Design. With several Speeches, and a Song, suitable to the Solemnity. All prepared for the Honour of the prudent Magistrate, Sir William Hooker, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London : at the peculiar Expenses of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. As also a description of his Majesties Royal Entertain- ment at Guildhall, by the City, in a plentiful Feast, and a glorious Banquet. Written by Thomas Jordan. 410, 1673. TIIK GROCERS. 197 The Triumphs of London, Performed on Tuesday, October 29, 1678. For the Entertainment of the Right Honourable, and truly Noble Pattern of I'rudencc and Loyalty, Sir James Edwards, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing a true description of the several Pageants, with the Speeches spoken on each Pageant. Together with the Songs sung in this Solemnity. All set forth at the Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Designed and Composed by Tho. Jordan, Gent. 410, 1678. London's Joy ; Or, The Lord Mayor's Show : Triumphantly Exhibited in Various Representations, Scenes, and Splendid Ornaments, with divers pertinent Figures and Movements. Performed on Saturday, October 29, 1681. At the Inaugura- tion of the Right Honourable Sir John Moore, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. With several Speeches and Songs which were spoken on the Pageants in Cheapside, and sung in Guildhall during Dinner. All the Charges and Expenses of the industrious designs being the sole Undertaking of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Devised and composed by Tho. Jordan, Gent. 4to, 1 68 1. The Triumphs of London : Performed on Monday, October 29, 1683. For the Entertainment of the Right Honorable and truly noble Pattern of Prudence and Loyalty, Sir Henry Tulse, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. Contain- ing a Description of the whole Solemnity, with two new Songs set to Music. [By Thomas Jordan.] 410, 1683. The Triumphs of London: Performed on Saturday, October 29, 1692. For the Entertainment of the Right Honourable Sir John Fleet, Kt., Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing a true Description of the several Pageants, with the Speeches spoken on each Pageant. All set forth at the proper Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Together, with an Exact Relation of the most Splendid Entertainments, prepared for the Reception of Their Sacred Majesties. By Elkanah Settle. 4to, 1692. The Triumphs of London: Performed on Tuesday, October 29, 1695. For the Entertainment of the Right Honourable Sir John Houblon, Kt., Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing A true Description of the several Pageants, with the Speeches spoken on each Pageant. All prepared at the proper Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. To which is added, A New Song upon His Majesty's Return. By Elkanah Settle. Published by Authority. 4to, 1695. Hosanna ; or, A Song of Thanksgiving sung by the Children of Zion ; and set forth in three notable Speeches at Grocers' Hall, on the last solemn day of Thursday, June 7, 1649. The first was spoken by Alderman Atkins, the second by Alder- man Isaac Pennington, the third by Hugh Peters (no Alderman, but) Clcricus in Cuerpo. 4to, 1649. 198 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Drapers, THE Drapers, like many or most of the other Gilds, had a lengthened existence antecedent to their formal confirmation. In or about 1215, Henry FitzAlwyn, Draper and premier Mayor of London (1189-1215), bequeathed to them his estate at St. Mary Bothaw, a small parish north of Queenhithe, which modern changes have almost effaced. In 1252 and 1253 the Mayor was successively chosen from this Society. It is perhaps to be regarded as flattering to FitzAlwyn that, he being nomi- nated by the Crown, and the latter in 1208 conferring on the City the future right of election, he retained the dignity till some years later. The Drapers formed one of the branches of the clothing trade, of which the Weavers, Tailors, Shearmen, Fullers, and Dyers were other com- ponent parts ; and all these sub-divisions of industry frequently occur as engaged in differences respecting the details and dividing lines of their respective businesses. The Drapers judiciously propitiated the Crown in 1363 by contri- buting the liberal quota of fifty marks toward the King's French wars, and in the very following year approached his grace with a prayer for a charter, which infallibly cost them a further considerable amount. By this, so far as we can make out, they specially and by right chiefly, if not exclusively, confined themselves to the retail department ; and the instrument just quoted was indeed professedly executed for the purpose of enabling them to exercise a stricter and more authoritative control over the retail trade, and to see the provisions of the Statute of the Staple more punctually and efficiently carried out. The preamble recites that it had been shown to the King and Council that great numbers of persons belonging to divers misteries, who had not properly learned the trade of drapery, according to the good, ancient custom of London, meddled therewith; and not only was the quality of THE DRAPERS. cloth offered for sale consequently uncertain, but it was in the hands of interlopers and forestallers who enhanced the price. The italicized words in the foregoing paragraph may be deemed sufficient to establish that the peculiar province of the Drapers was one of great antiquity and recognised standing in 1364. The charter of Edward prescribed that hereafter no one should follow or exercise the calling until he had served his apprenticeship to it, and that the sale of cloth should be limited to persons of this mistery, save where it was purveyed to lords and other in gross and not for retail. In order to enforce this and other regulations, four Wardens were to be elected, subject to the approval of the Lord Mayor, and nothing in the charter or in any Ordinances was to be in prejudice of those who had the right OLD ARMS. of holding fairs in the suburbs of London, or of the merchant-vintners of England and Gascony. Not merely the sale, but the making, of drapery is mentioned in this charter of 1364. Whence it may be deduced that the early drapers were also tailors and dressmakers or milliners, the so-called merchant- taylors being at the outset rather linen-armourers, and paying atten- tion to a class of employment which was perhaps more lucrative, as well as more technical. The reservation of the existing privileges of the Vintners had reference to the charter obtained by that Gild just before, wherein, for the sake of preventing the excessive efflux of money for the purchase of wines, 2OO THE GREAT COMPANIES. they were left at liberty to exchange their commodities for cloth, and buy the same freely, it may be more correct to describe the grant of 1364 as a patent, for it really went little, if at all, beyond a ratification of certain remedies for current abuses and grievances. The first actual charter was that of November 30, 17 Henry VI., which conferred on the Drapers the right of forming themselves into a Company, under the name of the " Master, Wardens, Brethren, and Sisteren of the Gild or Fraternity of the blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mistery of the Drapers of the City of London." This instrument recites the several statutes of Edward III. and his successors relating to the subsidy on cloth, the sealing of cloth by the Alnager, the fixture of the dimensions of cloth, the farm of the alnage and subsidy, and of a moiety of forfeitures of unsealed cloth, and re-enforces their provisions, appointing certain persons to carry out the law, with the power of search over all houses and shops in the City and its suburbs. The charter of 6 Edward IV., besides being an inspeximus of the earlier one, granted a licence in mortmain to the extent of 2O/. a year for the professed purpose of enabling the Gild to support two chaplains, to pray for the souls of the King and Queen and divers other noble personages, and for the well-being of the Gild. The next instrument, of the nineteenth of the same reign (1479), is so far curious, that it so closely follows, and that it guarantees the Drapers against any con- cession of a charter to the Shearmen, as solicited by the latter. It also withdraws from the Shearmen for the future any right of search, cor- rection, and authority over other trades, especially the Drapers and Taylors, except in so far as such right might be conceded by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. The seizure of cloth illegally shorn by the two other crafts is particularly forbidden, but the Shearmen might enforce or recover the penalty attached. The frequency of a renewal of grants is of course explained by the course of political events. The accession of Richard III. almost necessitated an approach to him with a view to confirmation and indemnity, and the charter of May 21, 1484, is found accordingly to be of a peculiar and special character. It releases the Gild from all transgressions, forfeitures, etc., prior to February 21 preceding, con- dones all acts done without licence to the same date, as well as all fines, aids, etc. before Michaelmas, 22 Edward IV. But this grace did not comprise accounts with the Staple of Calais, the Staple of the Treasury of Calais, the Chamberlains of Chester, Northwell, and South- well, the Keepers of the Royal Wardrobe, the Clerks or Keepers of THE DRAPERS. 2Of the Hanaper of the Chancery, their executors or administrators, the Clerks of the Royal Works, the Treasurer of Ireland, or the Receivers of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall. The inspeximus of Philip and Mary (1558) recites only those of 17 Henry VI. and 6 Edward IV.; and that of 1560 follows the same course, adding the previous inspeximus. The language and tenor of the charter of 1607, which is next in the rather long series, shews that the Drapers had meanwhile experienced a very considerable development in regard to their possessions and prosperity. It may conveniently, for our present purpose, be bracketed with that of 1619 of the same King, which now particularly bears on the Hall of the Company and other property held by it in London and the Borough. Under the instrument of 1607 the government of the Gild was appointed to consist of a Master, four Wardens, and twenty-four Assistants, the Master and Wardens to be annually re-elected, but the Assistants to be for life, unless for some special reason removed. This principle imparted to the constitution an unusually oligarchical cha- racter, which was still further confirmed by the regulation that the Master and Wardens should be chosen by a selected body of twelve of the Assistants, all of whom must have been past Masters or Wardens. Each past Master or Warden was ex officio an Assistant for life. The charter of 1607 also bestowed the right to have a perpetual succession, to use a common seal, with power to change and alter the same, to hold lands, tenements, etc., to the value of 2OO/. a year, and to exercise as heretofore the power of search. When we come to the charter of a few years' later date, we find that it is exclusively devoted to a rehearsal of the several properties then held and enjoyed by the Gild with or without licence in various parts of London and Southwark, and we are confronted with a marvellous picture of the aggrandisement during the period intervening between 1364 and this transaction. The estates of the Drapers, for which they now obtained the royal acknowledgment, with peaceful occupation for ever, and a full indemnity for all passed acts done, on payment of a fine of 2o6/., reserving only such rights as were already held of the Crown by others ; and the whole of this splendid property was vestecj in them in free burgage, and not by knight's service or any other feudal tenure. It may be of interest to enumerate the particulars of this confirma- tion. The lands, tenements, and hereditaments consisted of (i) the capital messuage with appurtenances called Drapers' Hall, with the gardens, buildings, curtilages, messuages, and tenements thereto be- 2O2 THE GREAT COMPANIES. longing, in the parish of St. Peter-le-Poer, in the ward of Bread Street, with ten messuages adjoining the Hall and a garden ; (2) ten messuages lying together in St. Margaret, Lothbury, and two others ; (3) eight messuages lying together in St. Stephen, Coleman Street ; (4) four messuages, nine stables, and a garden, near London Wall ; (5) a capital messuage and three others, in St. Mary, Bassishaw ; (6) ten messuages or tenements, formerly eight, in Beech Lane, St. Giles Without Cripple- gate, and eight tenements, messuages, or almshouses adjoining ; (7) ten messuages or tenements, with appurtenances, formerly one messuage known as the Bull, in West Smithfield, and five other messuages, formerly one, in the same parish ; (8) two messuages in St. Nicholas Shambles, Christ Church ; (9) two messuages in the parish of St. Michael-le-Querne ; (10) two contiguous messuages, a third called the Goat, and another, all in the parish of All Saints, Honey Lane; (11) two messuages in Bow Lane, otherwise Cordwainer Street ; (12) a corner house in Watling Street and Soper Lane [Queen Street] ; (13) three messuages, formerly two, in Walbrook ; (14) sixteen messuages, a capital messuage, called the Herber, and an inn called the Chequer, in St. Mary, Bo- thaw ; l (15) four messuages at or near Dowgate ; (16) three messuages formerly two, a corner messuage in Candlewick [Cannon] Street and Abchurch Lane, and a capital messuage 2 with eight other messuages adjoining, in St. Swithin's Lane; (17) two messuages or tenements in Sherbourne Lane ; (18) four messuages adjoining to Bearbinder Lane ; (19) thirteen messuages in Cornhill and the immediate neighbourhood, including the advowson and patronage of St. Michael, Cornhill ; (20) three messuages, including a corner one, in Birchin Lane; (21) four messuages in the parish of St. Nicholas Aeon, or St. Mary Abchurch ; (22) five messuages lying together in Lawrence Pountney Lane and Thames Street ; (23) a messuage on New Fish Street Hill ; (24) six- and-twenty messuages and a wharf in the parish of St. Olave, South- wark ; (25) two messuages in Botolph Lane, Billingsgate ; (26) a messuage in Petty Wales, in the parish of All Hallows, Barking ; (27) four tenements lying together in Mark Lane ; (28) two messuages near the end of Tower Street ; twelve messuages and a shed near Tower Street, in the parish of St. Margaret Pattens ; (29) seventeen messuages near Little East Cheap and Philpot Lane ; (30) a messuage in Grace- Probably their most ancient possession, having been left to them by their associate, Henry FitzAlvvyn, first Mayor of London, about 1215. The former Hall of the Company, before they removed to Throgmorton Street in 1543. The site still belongs to the Drapers; it is opposite Salters' Hall, and the houses, including the Surveyor's office, bear the Company's arms. THE DRAPERS. 2O3 church Street; (31) an annuity or yearly rent of 52/. los. from mes- suages, etc., in the parish of St. Leonard, Shored itch. From this instructive schedule, forming part of the charter of 1619, and virtually its only subject-matter, we derive some conception of the steady accumulation of investments, which had been made in the course of about a century ; and if we turn to the balance-sheets published in 1884 we perceive the enormous increase in the value of the land and tenements acquired. Many buildings specified in 1619 have been long removed under various improvement Acts or schemes.1 A new one was contemplated or proposed in 1684, but was not carried out.2 The oldest Ordinances for the government of the Brotherhood are referred to 1322 ; but no text of them seems to be extant. Others were made in 1405 and 1418. Some of the articles in the former are new; those laying down that a freeman and his wife shall pay a composite quarterwage of jd.y that the allowance to the Warden for rushes, min- strels, players, and other petty items shall not exceed 2os., and that when the Mayor attends the dinner, being a member, 40?. shall be chargeable for his mess. There is also the rule for observance in sitting at table, which has not occurred before. All such as had been Masters and Wardens were appointed to sit apart at the high table next the cupboard, unless it were otherwise directed by the Master and Wardens for the time being ; but at a table next the parlour door guests of the Master and Wardens might -sit. No brother of the Fraternity, liveryman or freeman, was entitled to seat himself at the general board, till those at the high table had washed and taken their places. The following code of 1418 commences with directions as to internal affairs and religious or charitable observances, and concludes with a series of articles of a more practical complexion relevant to the conduct of trade and the protection of financial interests. The latter portion includes rules for attendance at Westminster, Bartholomew, and South- wark Fairs ; but first of all the most noteworthy points are the obligation on the part of the Wardens to render yearly accounts, which is still continued, and the settlement of the order of precedence at banquets. More elaborate bye-laws were drawn up in 1663. The earliest accounts of the Company are of the year 1415, when the income was below 38/., and the expenditure below 24/. per annum. The members then numbered ninety-six, of whom thirteen were in arrears 1 Philip and Mary and Elizabeth conferred inspeximus charters. We do not meet with any notice of renewals or re-grants by Charles I., James II., or William and Mary. * How the Drapers escaped from the almost inevitable incidence of each fresh monarch and dynasty, it is useless to conjecture. 2O4 THE GREAT COMPANIES. with their quarterwages. Some of the items of outlay are curious and even historically interesting, comprising payments for attendance at fairs, to minstrels with the charges for their hoods and entertainment, for horse-hire for some of the Company to ride in the civic procession to meet the King and Queen Dowager on their entry into London after the Battle of Agincourt, and disbursements for table-cloths and garlands, and for the Lord Mayor's mess, his lordship (Sir Nicholas Wotton) this year being a Draper. In 1397 Blackwell, or rather Bakewell Hall, — possibly so named from the Bakehouse in the vicinity, — had been established in Basinghall Street, as a central and general emporium for the sale of woollen cloths of all kinds, the sole condition of admittance being the payment of certain reasonable tolls and dues. There was a vigorous attempt to convert it into a monopoly in favour of the free drapers of London ; but the municipality interfered, and opened its doors to all comers. It was under the first mayoralty of Sir Richard Whittington (1397-8) that the Ordinances of Bakewell Hall were first drawn up by the authorities for the proper control of the foreign drapers or clothiers, who resorted thither for the sale of their cloth. These regulations seem certainly to imply that very serious abuses had hitherto prevailed in regard to this matter, and that the foreigners imposed both on the English and on each other. It was now laid down that the foreign drapers should offer their goods nowhere else, and only from noon on Thursday till noon on Saturday, and nothing save whole cloths and half cloths. In 1405 the Company obtained the right of nominating the Keeper, subject to the approval of the Court of Aldermen ; and during more than two centuries the London Drapers enjoyed profitable facilities here for the disposal of their goods. The old-fashioned machinery gradually broke down under a variety of adverse influences, particularly the gradual with- drawal of the members of the Gild from an active share in business, the indirect operation of the Orphan Act of 1697, and the development of commerce outside the jurisdiction of the City on more modern lines. When the City Companies finally agreed to take over, with certain reservations, the Ulster estates, the Drapers paid for one full manor, and admitted only one sub-sharer— the Tallow-Chandlers. The Draper presents himself as the salesman — as the Clothier in contrast to the Shearman or Cloth worker — in the Little Gest of Robin Hood (1508), in a passage where Much, the miller's son— as he watches Little John measuring out the cloth for Sir Richard at the Lea, without very nice regard to the quantities— asks what devil's-kin draper he is, that he uses no better rule ? This merchant-gild, as it probably may upon the whole be considered, sold the goods in the piece or by the TIIK DRAPERS. 205 yard, as well as in a made-up form. They purveyed the new clothes for both sexes, as the upholder did the second-hand. During the twenty years and upward that Robin Hood passed in the forests of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, it is once or twice casually shown that the hero kept by him a store of cloth in the piece, for the use of himself and his men. It was probably bought at Nottingham, if it was not by possibility acquired from some trader passing through Barnsdale or Sherwood. Even in such case, Robin would have paid for it, as that was not the class of men whom he plundered. The Linen-Draper,1 though it has become a familiar term, and has gained by degrees a wide and vague significance, was, at the beginning, an important departure and a distinct line of business. The general employment of linen and the free currency of the fabric here were long restrained by the failure of the foreign manufacturers to obtain the same footing in our country as their brethren who dealt in wool. A pre- dilection long survived among us for the older textile on sanitary and other grounds ; and the Act for Burying in Woollen passed as late as 1678. Even in 1730, it was noted as a remarkable circumstance, that Mrs. Oldfield the actress was interred in Westminster Abbey in a Holland shift trimmed with lace and a Brussels lace head-dress. There is quite a little group of tracts illustrating the resentment of some persons at the legal requirement, which was no doubt often evaded. In the time of Stow's Continuator (1633) Watling Street was the principal centre for drapers and retailers of woollen cloths, both broad and narrow. The Drapers virtually severed their practical connexion with the industry which had given them their name and their wealth, as con- stitutional changes rendered the ancient principles of commerce unten- able, and the growth of their estate, as well as the modification of their constituency, rendered mercantile pursuits, and even the task of superintendence, foreign to their needs and views. This is the story of all the leading Companies. That under immediate consideration has prodigiously expanded its resources of recent years, and is among the most opulent of the Fraternities. It seems to have rallied with unusual rapidity from the effects of the Fire of 1666, and to have remained uninterruptedly sol- vent. It contributes out of its corporate funds very large sums, year by year, to educational objects, while more than a third of its total revenue is under the control of the Charity and Endowed Schools Commissions. The original " Fraternity of the Drapers of Cornhill," as it was 1 Compare the preceding Section. 2O6 THE GREAT COMPANIES. termed, realized the idea pervading the institution and nonage of all these organizations, when the Brethren adopted the practice at the outset of assembling in council in the adjacent church of St. Mary Bethlehem, Bishopsgate, with the assent of the Prior and on payment of a fine and a quarterwage. The fixture of the weaving business in the neighbourhood of Cannon Street led to a drift in that direction of the woollen-tailors and cloth-sellers, and eventually the ,Drapers met at a house in St. Swithin's Lane, purchased or otherwise obtained from John Hend some time anterior to 1405, when we hear of the Ordinances of that year having been settled "at John Hend's house in Swithin's Lane." This personage was Mayor in 1405, and the repairer of St. Swithin's Church. In a document of 1445-6, 24 Henry VI., the building is specified as Drapers' Hall, and in 1479, after a grand hunt in Waltham Forest, when the Mayor, Sir Bartholomew James, Draper, and others accom- panied the King, the Lady Mayoress afterward entertained in St. Swithin's Lane the Aldermen's wives and other ladies, Edward IV. having sent a present of venison and wine and particularly desiring that the City ladies should receive every attention. There are several entries of charges for work done and other outlays incurred at this first Hall of the Company. During the remainder of the fifteenth century, and far into the reign of Henry VIII., Drapers' Hall in St. Swithin's Lane was periodically the scene of good cheer and generous hospitality ; and the fair sex was invariably remembered at the great feasts. The entertainments in 1515, 1516, 1521, and other years were extraordinarily sumptuous and costly, and among the guests were all the civil and ecclesiastical notabilities on friendly terms with the Company, especially the Master of St. Thomas of Aeon, the Prior of St. Bartholomew's, and the Prior of St. Mary Overy. When exalted or highly important visitors were asked, the Master and Wardens, or some of them, personally waited on the individual. There is an entry under 1496 of ^d. for boat-hire, to bid the Lord Treasurer (William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester) to a feast. In 1521 the Midsummer celebration cost no less than 64!. 8s. 2d. But the grand Election dinner of 1516, when a large number of distinguished persons and many ladies (who appear to have dined in a separate apartment) were present, may be judged, from the description of it, to have been still more magnificent. Leland the antiquary was among the guests ; and there were two players, who had their messes and rewards. The account of the Company's plate shews a total of 98 pieces, exclusively of 164 dozens of plain silver spoons. The early association of the Drapers with the neighbourhood of THE DRAPERS. 207 Cornhill and the bequests of members in trust for the performance of obits at the adjacent Austin Friars, may have had some share in drawing their attention to the opportunity of securing a more com- modious Hall, when the princely residence of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, escheated to the Crown by his attainder in 1 540 ; and in 1543, after a good deal of negotiation, the Company purchased the whole, with its appurtenances and certain supplemental matters in the shape of fixtures. The circumstances under which it was enabled to place itself in a position to treat with the Crown for this splendid property are not generally known. But the fact is, that in 1540, under the will of Thomas Howell, a Monmouthshire gentleman and an English merchant at Seville, 12,000 ducats of gold, — of which only 8,720 (about 4,3OO/.) seem ever to have been paid, — were left to the Drapers, in trust to DRAPERS' HALL. THE CROMWELL HOUSE. buy 400 ducats annual rent to provide 847. every year for four orphan maidens of the testator's kindred, if they could be found,1 or if not, of four such outside his kindred, each of whom was to receive 2i/. Out of this money the Drapers bought for i,2OO/. the Cromwell mansion and its appurtenances, which, not reckoning the house, was estimated at that time to produce IO5/. a year. There was some delay in the completion of the business ; for Howell had made his testamentary dispositions at Seville, and appointed residents there his executors. As early as 1559 the scheme adopted by the beneficiaries was judged unfair and improper, and it was considerably modified by the Court of Chancery after an investigation extending over six months. The abstract of the case is, that Thomas Howell in 1540 left about 4,ooo/., more or less, in trust to the Drapers for eleemosynary and secular purposes within certain defined limits; that the Drapers, desiring to invest money in a new direction, made a compact with Henry VIII., under indentures dated March 31, 1543, confirmed by letters patent 1 See a curious entry in Burn's Star-Chamber, 1870, p. 52. 208 THE GREAT COMPANIES. of July 4, 1543, whereby they became proprietors of the attainted favourite's seat or inn in the City for i,2OO/. + icxr. 4^. a year payable to the Court of Augmentations ; and that, the property yielding nearly enough even at that period to carry out the two conditions involved, namely, the yearly payment of 847. and the execution of necessary repairs from time to time on the premises, the purchasers had their Hall and certain appurtenances into the bargain, although the testator expressly stipulated that the more his money would command in the way of land, the more the trustees were to apply to the same purpose, by enlarging the scope of the charity in a corresponding ratio. Therefore it followed that the dedication of any part of the fund to the Hall was as foreign to the mind of Howell as its submission to ecclesiastical control. This was the place in connection with which Stow narrates the familiar story of the injustice done to his father, who occupied a house in the rear ; and also that to which James Howell, writing to his father, September 30, I629,1 refers, where he speaks of apprenticing his brother Ned to the Company, and seeing the portrait of Thomas Howell over the chimney-piece in the great room. That portrait, no doubt, disappeared in the fire. But the clerk, when he ascertained Howell's name, told him that, if his brother could prove his descent from that stem, he would have 3 which was conceded under writ of privy seal. The Fishmongers shared with a limited number of the Gilds the dubious honour of being requested by James I. to assist him in settling the Ulster Plantation. The matter occupied some years before it was finally arranged, in 1617-18, when the present Company took over from the Irish Society, to which the whole territory had been assigned by the Crown, a Fishmongers' manor, which was productive of the same kind of unfavourable experience as those forced on the other Companies, generally held by them at great loss and small profit, and eventually, whenever the fortunate opportunity offered, sold. The Fishmongers admitted five other Gilds as sub-sharers. The returns made in 1882 to the Royal Commission of 1880 are in this case remarkably copious and exhaustive, and present a view of the Fishmongers' extensive charities and educational endowments. It is understood that the current figures (1891) are approximately similar. Herbert supplies a good deal of information respecting the successive Ordinances framed by the government of the Company for observance, agreeably to the powers conferred in the charters. But it may be neces- sary to repeat that the Fishmongers have a Prime Warden and five others, who, with the Assistants, constitute the Court. As regards the statement of the writer quoted, that they have never had a Master, the fact is, that the officer so called is no more in any instance than the Master or Prime Warden. A still more interesting point is quoted by Herbert, where he, in rela- tion to the loss of the Fishmongers' earlier records in the Fire of 1666, derives from the Goldsmiths' archives the singular piece of information that that Fraternity and the Fishmongers, in token of the amity between them, yearly exchanged with each other at one time eight newly-made suits and hoods, and wore the same respectively. within the waters of some foreign State," applied only to oysters intended for imme- diate consumption, and that a "term of residence" made the oyster British. He therefore imposed a nominal penalty. 224 THE GREAT COMPANIES. It appears that they formerly had their livery renewed, in part or wholly, every year, on the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul, and kept it two years, but in no case were at liberty to part with the old suits, either to their apprentices or to strangers. Old Fishmongers' Hall, before the Fire, occupied an oblong plot of ground in Thames Street, which had been the site of four or five tene- ments, and on which was subsequently erected the mansion of Sir John Cornwall, Lord Fanhope. This building was given by him to the Company in the reign of Henry VI., when, long prior to the ultimate PLAN OF OLD FISHMONGERS' HALL AND ITS ENVIRONS. union with the other Fraternity in 1536, the two for general purposes already acted in harmony. In 19 Henry 'VI I., five years before the rati- fication by the Crown, the two bodies were practically united, and used one Hall. The area of Lord Fanhope's premises was 120 feet frontage to Thames Street by 200 feet of depth toward the river. At the period when John, afterward Sir John, Lovekyn removed thither, in the reign of Edward III., the place was little more than an open strand on the river bank. Lovekyn, who was a Stock-fish Monger, held this land in free burgage ; and through failure of issue it descended after his death to one of his TIIK FISHMONGERS. 225 executors, the famous Sir William Walworth, and was subsequently purchased by Lord Fanhope, from whom it was conveyed through trustees in 1435 to the Fishmongers, who about this time acquired some of the adjoining properties. But it was not till several years later that Fanhope's house was adopted as a Hall. The premises were subject to an annual rent of 40 marks, equal to about 45^., presumably for the support of a chantry, since, on the suppression of these estab- lishments, the Company commuted the payment, and made the place freehold. The Company, then, in 1502, eventually agreed to settle at Fish- mongers' Hall, Fanhope's former dwelling, and the other Halls were let out to several tenants, though subsequently taken back from time to time, and added to the original structure, All the arrangements were not finished, it is supposed, till 1513, when the pile assumed the as- pect of a large square block of masonry, with turrets at the angles and n , FISHMONGERS' HALL ABOUT 1650. a central gateway facing the river. It must have gradually absorbed several of the minor tenements which once abutted on it at different points. But alterations seem to have been introduced when Hollar engraved his view of the Hall about 1647, unless it is that the earlier plans by Agas and Hogenberg are inaccurate in detail. For here we perceive a partition of the court-yard by a refectory running across the quadrangle. The river front, which probably lay back some forty feet from the bank, is plain, and consists of two projecting wings, and a centre with a balconied first-floor, two rows of windows, and a lofty octagonal domed tower rising above the roof. There is a terrace between the building and the river, reached by an arched doorway. Jarman's Hall stood more forward than the present one, and was on the site of the northern foot of the bridge. In the interior, the various c.c. 15 226 TIIK FISHMONGERS. 227 portions of the structure enclosed a square paved court ; the dining apartment, which, as we are to see, was ordered to exceed that in the original room in dimensions, lay on the south side ; the court and withdrawing rooms on the east, and the business premises on the west. The dining-hall had a Grecian screen, a gallery, and a statue of Sir William Walworth by Pierce. The walls of the reception chambers were decorated with emblematical representations of fish, and other paintings. The present Hall is a modern erection, and, like that of the Gold- smiths, is chiefly remarkable for its splendour. It has of course no historical interest A long roll of excellent and philanthropic personages, including many Mayors, especially Sir John Lovekyn and Sir William Walworth, can be shown by this Gild, which played its part in the series of pageants by land and water which usually signalized the installation of each chief magistrate. These commenced centuries before any separate description of them was or could be published. The earliest with which the Fish- mongers were directly identified, was the ceremony at the admission of John Allot in 1590 as Mayor of London and of the Staple ; and in the printed account by Thomas Nelson there is a curious reference to the scarcity and dearness of fish at that point of time. The Company did not return its second Mayor till 1616. The Gilds, as we know, participated in other festivities and inaugural occasions besides the Lord Mayor's initiation ; and Cheapside witnessed a constant succession of spectacles, which, from the habit of going on horseback, gained the name of Ridings. Chaucer depicts the appren- tices neglecting their employers' affairs, and running to the doors to gape at these cavalcades. There is nothing particular to record under this head till the Great Fire came, and in a neighbourhood which abounded in combustibles, oil, pitch, tar, hemp, flax, cordage, wines, spirits, reduced everything speedily to a wreck. The Hall was not very far westward from Pudding Lane, and the flames crossed the bridge-end by St. Magnus, and enveloped the whole precincts. The Hall itself, with its high roof and turret, was left a shell. Only the stone part of the Oyster or Water Gate escaped. The governing body met, under these circumstances, at Bethlehem Hospital, and Jarman was employed to construct a new Hall. On the 30th July, 1667, 200,000 bricks, 4,000 deals, 40 standards, and 100 putlogs were ordered as a commencement. It was decided to enlarge the pro- portions of the refectory to thirty-three feet wide by sixty-six feet deep. On April 8, 1668-9 tne ground-plan was deposited at Guildhall. On 228 THE GREAT COMPANIES. November 1 1 it was resolved by the Court that the Clerk's office should be finished first of all. Between December, 1669, and June, 1671, the work was completed ; but in the former month the Court began to sit in the new quarters, perhaps in the Clerk's room. The government of the Company has been already stated to consist of a Prime or Master Warden, five other Wardens, and twenty-eight Assistants, who form the Court. But there is a practice of referring matters of special business or inquiry to a series of standing com- mittees, viz. : — The Committee of Wardens. „ for General Purposes. „ „ Accounts. „ „ Audits. „ Irish Estate. „ Wine. In addition to which there is a sub-Irish Committee. The Committee of Wardens is composed of the whole body of six. That for General Purposes includes the Wardens and the six senior Assistants. The Account Committee has seven members, one of which is the Prime Warden. The Audit Committee consists of the Prime and Renter Wardens, the past Prime and Renter Wardens, and one Assistant, who has served or fined as Prime Warden. Twelve members, of whom five must have visited the estate, constitute the Irish Committee, namely, the Prime and second Wardens, and ten others, Wardens or Assistants ; and the sub-committee is a selection of those persons from the larger body. The Wine Committee is formed of the Renter Warden and four others, Wardens or Assistants. The bye-laws of the Company at present in force appear to be those of 1843 ar|d 1860, founded on those of 1668. The most ancient code is that of 35 Edward III. Of the pageant for 1616 the Company possesses the original drawings made for the order of procession and the costumes, and reproduced them in a folio volume several years ago with a descriptive text. In one of the apartments at the Hall are two excellent paintings in oil by Scott, of London and Westminster Bridges, as they appeared about the middle of the last century. The statue of WTal worth in wood, which stood in Jarman's Hall, is still preserved on the staircase : there is also an ancient pall, reputed to have once covered his bier, and the identical dagger with which he stabbed WTat the Tyler. The last-named relic has been in the possession of the Fishmongers ever since that time, and THE FISHMONGERS. 229 is probably another small salvage from the flames in 1666. It is of plain and coarse fabric, without a sheath, and with only a portion of the ancient wire covering to the wooden handle remaining.1 A very curious account of the Wat Tyler episode, differing from that usually received, may be found in A Chronicle of London , 1089- 1483, 4°, 1827, p. 73, and the text of Sir William Walworth's will, dated 20 December, 1385, is given in extenso in Excerpta Historical, 1833, P- *34 e* seW- The instrument breathes a spirit of piety and benevolence, and no one is forgotten. The spiritual welfare of Sir John Lovekyn, once master of the testator is particularly safeguarded by provision of masses and prayers for his soul. There are large bequests of money, plate, and MS. books. His widow, his chaplain, the Bishop of Winchester, and another, are appointed his executors. He left the bishop 4O/. for his trouble. Among the MSS. bequeathed occur Vita Patrum, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, Legenda Sanctorum, a Psalter, the Epistles of St. Paul, with a gloss, and others of a similar character. With the Bishop of Winchester Walworth had been brought into relationship as the farmer of the Stews in South- wark, which formed part of his lordship's estate. This Company, in its present state of disconnection from the branch of commerce which it at first and long pursued and controlled, and in its substituted function and rank as a benevolent and charitable com- munity, tells the common story of these unions, composed of men who grew wealthy according to the prevailing standard, and by the fortunate purchase of town and other sites, of which they could not have foreseen the prodigious advance in pecuniary value, laid the basis of noble estates, and made possible a complete revolution on the part of their beneficiaries in character and policy. At the same time, a certain representative pro- portion of the Fishmongers yet belongs to the trade ; while, as we have WALWORTH S DAGGER. 1 The inscription round the glass case in which the dagger lies runs as follows : "With this dagger Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor of London, Citizen and Fish- monger, slew the rebel, Watt Tyler, in Smithfield. Anno Domini 1381. THE GREAT COMPANIES. remarked, the governing body occasionally intervenes for the public protection in regard to irregularities committed. Herbert has collected peculiarly ample notices of the eleemosynary trusts and other charitable foundations of the Company, and these are, again, very fully set forth, with all the statistics at large, in the Returns made to the Royal Commission of 1880. LITERARY NOTICES. A Dietarie. Writtes published after the ordinance of Earles and Barons. Anno Domini 1315. A broadside. [Mary.] %* Extracts from Laws and Ordinances, from 1315 to 1555, respecting the flesh and fish diet allowable to certain classes. A Proclamation set forth by the Kynges Maiestie with the aduise of his highnes moste honorable counsaill, the ix. day of Marche, in the fifth yere of his highnes most prosperous reigne, forbidding the eating of flesh in the time of Lent. A broadside. ['552.] A Briefe Note of the benefits that growe to this Realme by the Obseruation of Fish- daies. By Edward Jennings. 410, 1593. A True Narrative of the Royall Fishings of Great Britaine and Ireland. Instituted Anno 1632. By Simon Smith, Agent. 410, 1641. The Herring-Bvsse Trade : Expressed in Svndry Particulars, both for the Building of Busses, . . . By the same. 410,1641. London's Blame, if not its Shame : Manifested by the great neglect of the Fishery. 4to, 1651. A Proclamation for restraint of Killing, Dressing, and Eating of Flesh in Lent, or on Fish-days, appointed by the Law to be observed. 1660. A broadside. Icthyothera, or, The Royal Trade of Fishing. Discovering the inestimable profit the Hollanders have made thereof, with the vast Emolument and Advantages that will redound to his Sacred Majesty, and his three Kingdomes by the im- provement of it. 410, 1662. The Trade and Fishing of Great Britain Displayed. By Captain lohn Smith. 410, 1662. The Royal Fishing Revived. By the same. 410, 1670. A Plea for the bringing in of Irish cattel . . . Together with an Humble Address to the Honourable Members of Parliament of the Counties of Cornwal and Devon, about the advancement of Tin, Fishery, and divers Manufactures. By John Collins, Accomptant to the Royal Fishery Company. 4to, 1680. Salt and Fishery. A Discourse thereof, Insisting on the following Heads : i. The several ways of making Salt in England and Foreign Parts. ... By John Collins. 410, 1862. The only Design of the Company of Fishermen. By the Bill depending in the Honourable House of Commons, as far as relates to themselves. A broadside. [About 1690.] A Collection of Advertisements, Advices, and Directions, Relating to the Royal Fishery within the British Seas. 410, 1695. Reasons Humhly Offered for passing the Bill for preventing the Importation of Fresh Fish caught by Foreigners, and the Preservation of the Brocd and Fry of Fish. A broadside. THK FISHMONGERS. 23 I Reasons of several Owners of Fishing-Vessels, Humbly Ofler'd against a Clause proposed by some Fishmongers, to repeal the Law now in Force, prohibiting Lobsters being Imported by Foreigners. A broadside. An Answer to the Allegations of the Fishmongers, in their Paper, imitled, Reasons humbly Offered for passing the Hill for preventing the Importation of Fresh Fish caught by Foreigners. A broadside. [.About 1700.] Remarks Humbly Offer'd by some of the Fishmongers in Answer to the other part of the Fishmongers' Reasons for repealing that part of the Billingsgate Act which relates to the prohibiting Lobsters being caught by Foreigners. A broadside. Farther Reasons Humbly Offar'd for passing the Fish Bill. A broadside. The Case of the Coasting Fishermen of the Kingdom of Great Britain. A broadside. An Answer to the same. A broadside. A Brief Detail of the Home Fishery from early time ; particularly as relates to the Markets of London and Westminster. In Three Letters. 8vo, 1763. The Booke called The Mirrour of Justices : Made by Andrew Home. With the Hook called, The Diversity of Courts. . . ^ 8vo, 1646. %* Andrew Home was City Chamberlain and Fishmonger. Ob. 1328. This work by him was written in French, of which the present was an English translation. He was also the compiler of the I.iber Horn, edited by Mr. Riley. New England's Trials. Declaring the Successe of twenty-six Ships employed thither within these sixe yeares. By Captain John Smith. 410, 1620. Dedicated to the Master, Wardens, and Company of the Fishmongers. CIVIC PAGEANTS, ETC. The Device Of the Pageant : set forth by the Worshipful Company of the Fish- mongers for the right honorable John Allot, established Lord Mayor of London, and Mayor of the Staple . . ., 1590 : Hy T. Nelson. 410, 1590. Reprinted entire in the Antiquary, xiii. 54-56. Chrysanaleia : The Golden Fishing : Or, Honour of Fishmongers. Applauding the Advancement of Mr. John Leman, Alderman, to the Dignity of Lord Mayor of London. Taking his Oath in the same Authority at Westminster on Monday, being the 29 Day of October, 1616. Performed in hearty love to him, and at the Charges of his worthy Brethren, the ancient and Right-worshipful Company of Fishmongers. Devised and written by A[nthony] M[unday], Citizen and Draper of London. 410, 1616. A Speech Made to His Excellency the Lord General Monck, and the Council of State at Fishmongers' Hall in London the Thirteenth of April, 1660. Written by Tho. Jordan . . . Spoken by Master Yeokney. 1660. A broadside. The Triumphs of London, for the Inauguration of the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Abney, Knt., Lord Mayor of the City of London ; containing a Description of the Pageants, together with the Publick Speeches, and the whole Solemnity of the Day. Performed on Tuesday, the 3oth day of October, Anno 1700. AH set forth at the proper cost of the Honourable Company of Fishmongers. By Elkanah Settle. Folio, 1700. 232 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Goltemitbs. THIS ancient, important, and wealthy body first comes under notice in 1 1 80, as one of the so-called "adulterine" Associations, which had been founded, and had assumed certain rights, without the royal licence ; it was amerced 45 marks, a comparatively high assessment ; but there is room to suspect that the fine in this and other similar cases, amounting in the aggregate to about I2O/., was never paid, as the above-named sum is entered in the records as a debt so late as the loth year of John. The Alderman of the Goldsmiths in 1 180 was Radulph or Ralph Flael. The next appearance of the Gilda Aurifabrorum is under even less satisfactory circumstances, as it connects them in March I267-8,1 with the Merchant-Taylors in an armed affray at night between the two Fraternities in the open street. The rioters were not parted or pacified without the forcible interference of the Sheriffs at the head of a posse comitatus, when many arrests took place, and thirteen of the delin- quents were executed. In 1299-1300 (28 Edward I.) the Wardens of the Goldsmiths are mentioned. But since all leading members of a mistery were in former days con- stituent parts of a Brotherhood, we have only to conclude from the almost immemorial citation of the industry and manufacture and of eminent followers of the business from Anglo-Saxon times, whatever may be the origin of some of the specimens of antique work in our col- lections, that the present Company existed long before any record of it in its corporate capacity. Two points combine in testifying to its rank and resources in 1180: the heavy amount of the fine imposed for unlawful acts, and the lofty position of its Alderman, Ralph Flael, who, like the Alderman of the 1 Herbert says, in 1226. T1IK GOLDSMITHS. 233 Burillers elsewhere cited and (to some extent) the Alderman of Faring- don Ward, under the primitive civic regime, was practically the lord in demesne ex officio of the Ward of Aldersgate, in which the members of the Goldsmiths' craft concentrated themselves. Their quarter, except so far as the retailer was concerned, was then, as their Hall is at the present moment, in the precincts of Foster Lane, and they principally inhabited the eastern side of that narrow thoroughfare, which derived from them the name of Goldsmiths' Row. The district is, in proceed- ings under the year 1339, called the Goldsmithery or Attrifabria, as we shall observe hereafter that the Saddlers' contiguous quarters were named the Saddlery ; and a man was hanged there in that year for steal- ing a cup, apparently of glass, value Ss. OLD ARMS. Returning to the case of Farringdon Ward, this division or soke was bought in 1279 by William Farringdon, Goldsmith, was held by him and his heirs by the presentation of a gilliflower at Easter, and remained in that family eighty years. This strikes one as being a somewhat different matter from the assumption of independent authority within the precincts of the soke or ward by Ralph Flael and by the Alderman of the Burillers, which arose from the quasi-feudal localization of their trades and their command of paramount influence over the respective Fraternities. It was a life-tenure, whereas that of Faringdon was of a more directly seigniorial complexion, being unconnected with his own Gild, and surviving him. 234 TI1E GREAT COMPANIES. We shall not be far in error, if we assume from a comparison of authorities and notices, that the Goldsmiths, like the Weavers, continued to be an unincorporated community during several centuries, and were unexceptionally members of the trade ; saving perhaps the official staff, although we find even the Chaplain in some instances admitted to the Freedom. In 1275, Gregory de Rokesley, Goldsmith, was chief Assay-master of the king's Mint and keeper of the Exchange l at London ; and it was only three years posterior to this date that the relationship to these institutions proved fatal to many members of the craft ; for in the Chronicle of London, 4to, 1827, under 1278, we read that "all the Gold- smiths of London, and all those that kept the Change, and many other men of the City, were arrested and taken for buying of plates of silver and of change of great money for small, and were indicted therefor, and that on the Monday next after the Epiphany a large number of the offenders, principally Jews, were condemned at Guildhall to death by drowning and hanging." The Goldsmiths in the reign of Edward I. (1272-1307) had clearly attained great consequence and extensive custom, and reckoned among their patrons royalty itself. In 1303, Thomas de Frowick, afterward a Warden of the Gild, received an order under the Great Seal to make a new crown for Edward's second Queen, having previously supplied the King with divers silver cups and vases. It was perhaps no unusual circumstance, that the merchant met with serious delay in getting his bill satisfied ; and the character of the transactions which these traders had with exalted personages, may be judged from the fact that Frowick, in praying the King, for God's sake and for the soul of his father Henry, to settle the demand, proposed to accept /[/fo/. on account, if necessary. The statute 28 Edward I. originally vested the right of assay in the Company, and directed that no vessels of gold or silver should leave the maker's hands, till they had been tested by the Wardens, and stamped with the leopard's head ; and in consequence of this law, an Office of Assay was established in the beginning of the fourteenth century. But it may be supposed that it was not universally operative or effectual ; and as late as 1505 it required heavier penalties to enforce the law. The taste or need of the Crown for costly articles of goldsmith's work, and the, no doubt, chronic incidence of procrastination in honouring accounts delivered, placed the Gild at all events in an unusually favour- able position for seeking a more distinct acknowledgment of its rights. The earliest of a series of fifteen charters was granted to it in 1327, a 1 The present Old Change marks the site. TIIK GOLDSMITHS. year marked by the number of similar concessions made to these civic communities, but still more so by the magnificent display which Richard cle Bettoyne, Goldsmith, made as Mayor of London at the coronation of Edward. In his official capacity he claimed and was allowed to serve the office of Butler, and appeared with 360 valets all clothed in the same livery, and each carrying in his hand a silver cup ; and at the conclusion of the ceremony, as his fee, he received a gold cup and cover and an enamelled gold ewer. There was a dispute, it seems, about the title to these articles, and ten years later an estreat for 89/. 12s. 6d. in respect of them issued from the Exchequer on the late Mayor's goods. He was evidently a wealthy man, as he offered to satisfy the claim if enforced. This person was perhaps related to William de Bettoyne, to whom the Court of Aldermen in 1291 granted the lease of the Small Beam for weighing silk and spices, and declined to cancel the decision on re- ceiving the King's writ, recommending some one else. But in 1310, on a fresh vacancy, the City elected the royal candidate, who was supported by letters both from the King and the Queen. The patent of 1327 empowered the Gild to elect a properly qualified governing body to superintend its affairs, and reform subjects of just complaint ; and prescribed, as a safeguard against a prevailing fraud and abuse, that all members of the trade should have their standings in Cheapside or in the King's Exchange, and that no gold or silver should be manufactured for export, save such as had been bought either in the Exchange or of the trade openly. For it transpires that it had been a common practice to purchase gold and silver in the bye-streets and other obscure places without inquiry, and forthwith to melt the whole down, and convert the metal into falsely-wrought objects of sale for the foreign market. Two other patents of the same reign are confirmatory, but add a licence in mortmain to the value of 2O/. a year for the relief of poor or infirm brethren. In 16 Richard II. (1393) a fourth instrument sanctions a Chaplain to perform daily mass for the faithful departed, confirms the Gild as a perpetual Society, and fixes the number of Wardens at four. The charters of Henry IV. and Henry VI. are inspeximns. But Edward IV. in his second year (1462-3), besides allowing the acts of his predecessors, conferred on the Goldsmiths a common seal, with the power of pleading and being impleaded under the name of the Wardens and Commonalty of the Mistery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, of making bye-laws, and of exercising search and oversight of goldsmiths' work throughout the kingdom. A corroboration of their privileges and power was obtained 20 236 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Henry VII. (1504-5), when the Company, having represented the in- sufficiency of the present right of search, the King vested in them the faculty of fining and imprisoning at their discretion all defaulters in the trade, of seizing, condemning and breaking unlawful work without rendering account to the Crown, and of compelling makers to bring all articles to the common Hall to be assayed and stamped, before they could be sold, which last requirement had been nominally in force since the 28 Edward I. This charter was, from a commercial point of view, the most valuable yet accorded to the Goldsmiths, as it placed them on the footing which they till recently continued to enjoy. Its terms were ratified by inspexi- mus patents of all the sovereigns down to William and Mary. James II. reserved to himself the nomination of the Wardens and Clerk ; but this claim was annulled by his immediate successors. There was a peculiar circumstance associated with the renewal of the charter by Henry VIII., which was accomplished to a large extent through the instrumentality of a member of the Court, Sir Martin Bowes, who had pointed out ; to his brethren that the then existing charters incorporated them merely as the Four Wardens and Common- alty of the Mistery, and an additional inducement was perhaps to endeavour to assure to themselves their chantry funds and other fiduciary property. Bowes seems to have shown great zeal in the matter, and frequently saw the Lord Chancellor upon it, before it was finally settled. For it appears that while the negotiation was pending, Henry conceived the idea of using the proposal as a leverage for obtaining money ; and on the plea that the applicants had been guilty of misdemeanours in regard to the Assay, refused to grant their prayer, unless they paid a fine of 3000 marks and defrayed the expenses of the Assay Office. The Company not only submitted, but consented to regard their governing body as acting on behalf of the King, and to admit two Assayers, a Haberdasher and a Grocer, nominated by the Crown. The expenses of confirming their charter on this occasion seem to have amounted to gl. I2s. 8d.t of which 2,1. was a fine to the King, 2/. the cost of the writing and confirmation, and I/. 6s. 8d. of the enrolment. The green wax and silken lace are entered in the account at 2s. In common with several of the Companies, the Goldsmiths regained 4 Edward VI. by purchase all the bequests made to them, prior to the Dissolution, of properties to be held to superstitious uses, and forfeited to the Crown, which through intermediary grantees reconveyed them to their owners. In the present case, twenty-four separate benefactions of great present value were involved ; and by the process of recovery in THE GOLDSMITHS. 237 the ordinary way of purchase the property naturally changed its nature from fiduciary to corporate or private estate. But the Company had had the mortification some time previously, — under the inquisition for destroying or defacing all superstitious and idolatrous objects, — of melting down two of their principal pieces of plate, adorned with images of St. Dunstan. Of these one appears to have been a sort of statuette, which was kept in one of the rooms of the Hall. These proceedings were followed by a declaratory (private) Act of James L, by which certain doubts were set at rest as to whether the properties just referred to, or only the rents therefrom, belonged to the Company ; nor did this entirely dispose of the difficulty ; for it was subsequently discovered that the Goldsmiths were entitled to more than they had claimed, namely, 379 houses and tenements in the City of London ; and after a negotiation with the agents of the Crown the whole was finally confirmed to the Company by an exemplification under the Great Seal in 1619. The Company exercised its former rights under a succession of Acts of Parliament from the reign of Henry VI. to that of Victoria, but chiefly under 12 George II. (1739), cap. 26, and 7 & 8 Victoria, cap. 22. The Ordinances passed in the fifth year of Henry VIII. seem to be the earliest regular code extant. At that period the Company was in full working order and in the plenitude of its power and prosperity. They provided for the election of the Prime and three other Wardens a month before St. Dunstan's Day1 and for the winding-up of the accounts by the retiring officers ; for the yearly reading of the said Ordinances on St. Dunstan's Day and for the keeping of that day ; for due respect to the Wardens and to each other ; for the exercise of the right of search by the Wardens in divers cities, boroughs, and fairs ; for the use of Troy weight and the prohibition of the employment of bad gold and silver ; for the assay and stamping of goods ; for the regula- tion of apprentices ; for the exaction of testimonials or sureties from stranger workmen and shop-keepers. There were also clauses to guard against the use of laten except for tools, against the gold-beater beating fine gold, and to enforce an uniformity of assize in all moulds of gold and silver. The necessity for the right of search and the presentation of delin- quents is exemplified by the occurrence of cases of fraud of every description, even embracing the manufacture of counterfeit jewellery within the precincts of St. Bartholomew's Priory. The particulars of 1 Formerly the day of election ; but in 1550 it was changed to Holy Trinity Monday. 238 THE GREAT COMPANIES. the visit of the Goldsmiths' Wardens on the 2oth April, 20 Henry VI., to the Prior, and of their seizure in his presence, on the premises of John Tompkins in the Close, of copper plated with silver and of pieces of laten, one of which was in the bed-straw, intended for conversion into goblets, are still preserved ; and the account concludes with narrating how at last " the false harlot stole away out of the place, or else he had been set in the stocks." The extension of the industry and those engaged in it beyond the original narrow limits of Foster Lane and its immediate neighbourhood was bound to afford facilities for deception and roguery, even in the presence of increased vigilance and more stringent regulations ; and as the Wardens probably had fixed periods for making their rounds of in- spection, nothing but an accidental discovery or special intelligence was, as a rule, likely to be effectual in bringing fraudulent practices to light and punishment. This point is abundantly illustrated by the usage which seems to have prevailed of attending Bartholomew and Sturbridge fairs in solemn state, so that the " mis-worker" had an ample opportunity of preparing for his visitors. The Wardens, we perceive, went to these fairs in the daytime or the evening in their livery gowns and hoods, accompanied by two of the Clothing or Livery, the Renters, the Clerk and the Beadle. The only detective machinery was the clue furnished by an informer or by some chance. It was a period when greater stress was laid on oaths and sureties than at present. In 1468-9 a suit in Chancery was insti- tuted for the recovery of a false diamond set in gold; and considerable trouble and expense were incurred in the matter. The individual charges were moderate enough ; a petition or " bill " to the Lord Chancellor is set down at 2s. But a good deal in this and other cases went in boat-hire and refreshments. So far as the foreign members of the Craft were concerned, the Company could of course do nothing beyond the requisition for a testimonial from the authorities of the locality whence they came, unless they had been sufficiently long in residence in London to gain a footing and a character. WTe have mentioned the power of Assay and the early institution of an Assay Office, which was eventually established within the Hall. There was at first one Assayer ; but subsequently three were employed. By the 7 & 8 Victoria, the Company was debarred from making any profit on the operation or on the stamping process, and were entitled to charge only the actual cost ; and the system has since fallen altogether into disuse as a compulsory observance. Connected with the Assay was the ceremony known as the Trial of TIIK GOLDSMITHS. the Pix, which was, in point of fact, the assay of a new coinage. The practice is, and has been from time out of mind, for the Lord Chancellor to issue a precept to the Company to form a jury of the Assay- master and eleven other persons. These assemble in the court-room of the Duchy of Lancaster, where the coins to be tested are delivered to them by officers of the Mint in the pix, a small box so denominated. The indenture, under which the Master of the Mint acts, is first read ; the pix is then opened, and the coins are taken out and enclosed in paper parcels, each under the seal of the Wardens, Master, and Comptrollers. From each 15 Ibs. of silver, or journies, two pieces at least are taken at random for the trial ; and each parcel having then been opened, and the contents found to answer to the endorsement, the coins are mixed together in wooden bowls, and afterward weighed. From the whole collection the jury takes a certain number of each kind of coin, to the aggregate weight of I Ib, for the assay by fire; and, the indented trial-pieces of gold and silver of the specified dates having been produced by the officer appointed, a sufficient quantity is cut from each of them to enable a comparison with the pound weight of either metal. The result is certified by the jury in a written verdict to the Lord Chancellor for preservation among the archives of the Privy Council. If the weights are found good, the Master of the Mint receives his Quietus, or discharge. The trial by fire is carried out by the deposit of a small quantity of the silver in the fire by the Assayer, who at the end of a fixed time takes it out again, and with his scales, which are adjusted to the hundredth part of a grain, computes and reports the quality of the metal. The Company appears to have incurred considerable loss by the obligation incurred by it .under statutes of conducting the Assay and maintaining an office and staff for the purpose, as all the functionaries were necessarily skilled and confidential. The business of finance and exchange was always one in which the foreign element made itself more than usually conspicuous and influen- tial. We know at how remote a date the so-called Lombards settled in London ; but not merely Italian merchants, bankers, brokers, money- lenders, became numerous and found a profitable market in a city which from the outset was essentially cosmopolitan, but Germans, Venetians, Netherlanders, Spaniards, Frenchmen, naturally and instinc- tively gravitated to a centre where money was realizable in such a multiplicity of ways. The Goldsmiths, who to some extent succeeded the Pepperers as financial agents, were peculiarly apt to experience an early and increasing intermixture of blood in the composition of their 240 THE GREAT COMPANIES. ranks ; and the foreigners, who were generally willing, or at least were required, to pay rather liberally for their freedom, largely contributed to improve our taste and the style of the work produced in England. One passage in the accounts relative to the custom of taking security for pecuniary advances, notices the appropriation of certain plate left in pawn, where it had remained with the Wardens a certain space of time and no one claimed it. The extension of the employment of goldsmiths to plating or harness- ing the inferior metal is recorded as early as 1376. It was an art of great antiquity ; but it involved this craft in great and constant trouble, as the plating process was frequently made a vehicle for the fraudulent sale of copper-gilt and other false wares for the real article, and the work- men even fabricated the mark. It was also not an unknown device to gild silver and set the gold stamp upon it. In connection with the composite character gradually assumed by the Company, and the large influx of foreign goldsmiths or crafts- men into London, we have to take cognisance of a singular trial of skill or competition in 4 Edward IV. between the goldsmiths of London on the one part and the alien workmen of the same City, of Westminster and of Southwark on the other. The contest arose from a contention by one Whit Johnson, a foreigner, with Oliver Davy, a London goldsmith, that the English were less proficient in the art than the strangers ; and the wager was laid between the parties before a mixed jury at the Pope's Head tavern in Cornhill, on the 2ist November in the aforesaid year. The task assigned was the making, working, and graving by an English operative or apprentice, and by an alien operative or apprentice (the latter to be of any foreign nationality), of a cat's face and a naked man, both inward and outward, with four puncheons on two plates of steel of the size of a penny sterling ; and the native work was adjudged, by great deliberation, good avisement, and sad oversight of the said puncheons on the part of the jurors, to be the better and more cunningly- wrought. The puncheons were ordered to remain at Goldsmiths' Hall in perpetuity, as a record and for reference, in case any such debate should again arise. For retail purposes, the goldsmiths of London spread themselves at an early period over the whole area between St. Paul's, or even further westward, and Lombard Street or Cornhill. But the manufacturers probably remained in the old quarter near St. Vedast Foster Church, where, in the neighbourhood of the modern Hall, Goldsmiths' Alley and Silver Street still indicate the ancient industrial site. It is curious that, in his Relation of England, about 1500, an Italian of rank speaks of the numerous goldsmiths' shops in the Strand ; he specifies 52 ; and 242 THE GREAT COMPANIES. depended on subscriptions and fines. The beginning of the following century witnessed a marked progression, and we see the Gild taking a part in public affairs, receiving special attention from Royalty, and con- tributing a liberal quota to current emergencies. It found 34/1 19^. od. in 1451 for two spearmen and 12 archers fully equipped for the army sent over to the siege of Calais. In 1477 the members of the Company had greatly increased, and amounted to 198, including 41 foreigners, who are returned as residing in Westminster and Southwark as well as in St. Clement's Lane, Abchurch Lane, Brick Lane, and Bearbinder Lane, in the City itself. But in 1483 the total had shrunk to 149. The Goldsmiths, like the Mercers, have always remained a relatively small Company. The Livery is now limited to 1 50, exclusive of the Court of Assistants of 2 1 members, and the Prime and other Wardens, making a total of 175 only. In 1537, the numbers are given as 52 in a paper printed by Her- bert from the original then in the Chapter House. But in 1540, when Anne of Cleves entered London, the Company took a prominent part in the procession appointed to meet her ; and the delegates are described as riding in black velvet coats, with gold chains round their necks, and velvet caps with gold brooches, attended by their servants clad in coats of good russet cloth. The entries in the accounts are too numerous to cite in a work of the present scope, and more properly belong to a monograph. But they form an index to the progress, development, and fluctuations of the Company under a succession of dynasties and domestic events, as well as a picture of opinions, prejudices, and manners ever changing with the times. We there discern the strange combination of financial frugality and humble religious fervour with splendid hospitality, sump- tous display, and loyal offerings in aid of public objects. There are par- ticulars of intestine disagreement as to the jurisdiction of the Executive, of transactions between distinguished brethren and clients desirous of raising money on pledges, and even passages between priests and the Gild, respecting the application of Chantry funds. At one period scarcely any one belonged to the Company who was not of the Craft. Now it is the case that the connection with the trade is purely nominal, and that the aims with which it was founded have completely determined. But, on the other hand, the Company has of late years heartily responded to the always increasing demand for money, either in the form of payments or annuities, in aid of technical and general education, and has proved itself a good friend to a wide circle of public institutions and objects, as well as a generous contri- THE GOLDSMITHS. 243 butor to the incessant appeals for the relief of sudden or unforeseen contingencies. The fortunes of Goldsmiths' Hall have been fairly diversified and historically curious. In the days of Edward II. the site belonged to Sir Nicholas de Segrave, brother of Gilbert de Segrave, Bishop of London in 1316, both of whom were of the Segraves of Leicester- shire. On the death of this personage the Company bought the premises, and a copy of the deed of sale, dated May 19, 1323, is preserved among the archives. No clue appears to exist to the date of the erection of the first Hall ; but since in 1366 we find the Company assembling in their " common place " in the parish of St. John Zachary, and in 1380 a new parlour and cellar were built, we judge it to be most probable that at the outset the Goldsmiths used the old house of Sir Nicholas de Segrave, and made certain additions to it. In 1401 the Hall in Foster Lane is explicitly cited. The conclusion that the original structure occupied by the Fraternity was the Segrave house is strengthened by the circumstance that in 1407 Sir Drue Barentyn began to carry out his scheme for refounding the Hall, or, in other words, for replacing the first building by another more suited to the requirements of a public body. It is tolerably clear, however, that Barentyn did not complete the project, as notices occur periodically, and till long afterward, of works in hand for the structure. It was evidently a place of some pretensions and extent, as we hear of the Chamber, probably a Court Room, the Hall, the Armoury, the Granary, the Assay-Office, the Vaults, the Chapel, and the Court-yard or garden, with the entrance-gate. The Hall had bay windows, that toward Huggin Lane being adorned with the armorial bearings of the Gild, and having a roof surmounted by a lantern and a vane. The process of furnishing this establishment proceeded gradually and slowly, and was mainly accomplished by donations ; but the arras, made expressly in Flanders for the Hall, and illustrating the history of St. Dunstan, was no doubt a corporate item, and cost no less than 2637. 6s. 8J. Stow, writing in 1598, speaks of the Hall as "a proper house, but not large," and discredits accordingly the received tradition of Sir Bartholomew Read having entertained here in 1502 more than one hundred persons of great estate. For he says : " For the messes and dishes of meates in them serued, the paled parke in the same hall, furnished with fruitfull trees, beastes of venery, and other circumstances of that pretended feast well weighed, Westminster Hall would hardly have sufficed . . . ." During the Civil War, the Parliamentary party made the Hall their head-quarters for meetings and their treasury. Numerous entries in 244 THE GREAT COMPANIES. the books refer to these transactions, more particularly to an unsuccess- ful attempt on the part of the Upper Chamber in 1647 to obtain the premises as part security for a sum of money then being raised for public purposes. The building erected in and after 1407 was seriously damaged by the Great Fire ; but the Company's archives and plate escaped, and were temporarily deposited in a house at Edmonton. The plate was sub- sequently lent to Sir Robert Vyner for his use during his Shrievalty. Until the Hall was restored by Jarman, a house in Grub Street, formerly the residence of Sir Thomas Allen, Grocer, and Lord Mayor in 1659, was leased for twenty-one years at 6o/. a year, and ioo/. fine. Jarman laid his ground- plan for the repairs and other works before the Court on the I7th March, 1666-7; but difficulties presented them- selves in the shape of periodical falls of parts of the building months subsequently to the date of the disaster ; and the whole summer passed away without seeing more than the erection of a new Assay House, which was an urgent need, and therefore specially expedited. The Hall was not ready for occupation till 1669. The Company had been impoverished by the Fire, and was obliged to part with a portion of its plate to defray expenses, thoughtfully registering in its books the inscriptions on such pieces as had been presented by brethren in the hope of their perpetual preservation. One standing cup and cover, the gift of Robert Sherley the Elder in 1612, weighed 93 J ounces. The structure, as it stood about this time, with Jarman's alterations and repairs, was a red brick building, encompassing a. small paved quadrangle, with a broad arched doorway and a space above for the Company's Arms. The Livery Hall, on the east side of the yard, was paved with black and white marbles, finely wainscoted and stuccoed, and elegantly furnished. The Court-room was also very handsome and sumptuous, and the balustrade of the staircase was beautifully carved. It was, no doubt, in some respects less imposing than the present block of building, which is a product of the last quarter of a century ; but it was infinitely more in keeping with the old-time associations and traditions of its owners. The Accounts enter with much minuteness into the question of the Livery or Clothing, or rather, perhaps, into the rule to be observed in respect to the Livery of the Clothing. The colour and pattern varied from time to time, as in the case of the other Fraternities. In 13 Edward IV. violet and scarlet are named, and payments are sanctioned for the cloth of these colours given to the Fishmongers, of whom, on solemn occasions, a certain number wore the Goldsmiths' Livery, and vice versa, as a token of good fellowship and ancient amity. In 3 Henry VI 246 THE GREAT COMPANIES. the gowns remained of violet and scarlet ; but the hoods were changed to blue and murrey. In 8 Henry VII. puce and fine violet in grain for the gowns went with black hoods. But in 10 Henry VIII. the gowns were violet, the hoods violet and scarlet. The members were at liberty to buy their vesture where they pleased. Among the constant ordinances of the. Gild was the yearly visit in procession on St. Dunstan's Eve to that saint's chapel in St. Paul's ; and on this occasion and on the morrow the Goldsmiths and Fish- mongers exchanged complimentary visits, and entertained each other with a great deal of formality and cordiality combined. GOLDSMITHS' HALL. THE PRESENT STAIRCASE. Of the distinguished members of the Gild we may enumerate William Fitzwilliam, founder in the beginning of the I3th century of the House of Black Nuns, at St. Helen's, Bishopsgate ; Gregory de Rokesley, perhaps the most illustrious person associated with it ; Sir Nicholas Faryngdon, whose name is familiar as at one time feudal proprietor of the agnominal Ward ; Sir Martin Bowers, who performed good service at the period when the difficulty arose as to the charter in the reign of Henry VIII. ; and Sir Francis Child, the member of a family identified with the early annals of banking and the currency. Jasper Fisher, one of the Clerks in Chancery, and a justice of the peace, who THE GOLDSMITHS. 247 built what was known as Fisher's Folly, in Bishopsgate, was a Goldsmith by freedom. . GOLDSMITHS' HALL. EWER OF THE ISTH CENTURY. LITERARY NOTICES. The valuacyo of golde and syluer, made 1 y yere M.CCCC.lxxxix., holde I the marke unce englice quart troye, dewes and aes .... 8vo (about 1 520). Printed at Antwerp. With engravings. An Advice touching the currancie in payment of our English Golde. 8vo, 1627. To the Right Honourable the Lords and others of His Maiesties most Honour- able Privie Counsell, the Humble Petition of Thomas Crosse, Goldsmith, on the behalfe, not onely of himselfe, but of the whole body of Goldsmiths within the Realme of England. A broadside, about 1630. a% Relating to interlopers. Perfet Directions for all English Gold now currant in this Kingdome. 8vo, 1632. By the King. A Proclamation concerning Gold-weights. 1632. A broadside. A Proclamation for the restraint of the consumption of the Coyne and Bullion of this Realme. 1635. A broadside. 248 THE GREAT COMPANIES. A Brief and Easie way by Tables, To cast up Silver . . . and Gold. . . . By John Reynolds of the Mynt in the Tower. 8vo, 1651. A True Discovery to the Commons of England, How they have been cheated of almost all the Gold and Silver Coyn of this Nation. By Thomas Violet [Goldsmith]. I2mo, 1650. The Advancement of Merchandize. By the same. [With a reprint of the above.] Folio, 1651. Narrative of Some Remarkable Proceedings, Concerning the Ships Samson Salvador, and George. Folio, 1653. Mysteries and Secrets of Trade and Mint-affairs. Folio, 1653. A most humble Remonstrance of Peter Blondeau, concerning the offers made by him to this Commonwealth for the coyning of the monie by a new invention not yet practised in any State. I2mo, September 9, 1653. An account of Blondeau's trial of his scheme at Goldsmiths' Hall is here given. A Proclamation declaring the Rates at which Gold shall be current in Payments, and to prohibit the transportation of the same. 1661. A broadside. A Proclamation for the Calling in of all Moneys of Gold and Silver, Coyn'd or Stamped with the Cross and Harp, and the circumscription, The Commonwealth of England. 1661. A broadside. A Proclamation against Exportation, and Buying and Selling of Gold and Silver at higher rates than in our Mint. . . . 1661. A broadside. His Majesties Gracious Patent to the Goldsmiths, for Payment and Satisfaction of their Debt. Published by His Majesties command, For the Information of their several Creditors. Folio, 1677. A Touchstone for Gold and Silver Wares, Or, A Manual for Goldsmiths. By W. B. of London, Goldsmith. 8vo, 1677. Second Edition, 8vo, 1678. The second edition includes John Reynolds of the Tower Mint's Tables of Gold and Silver. The Tryal of William Stayley, Goldsmith ; for speaking Treasonable Words against His Most Sacred Majesty. . . . Folio, 1678. The Tryal and Condemnation of Mr. William Staley, a Papist, 410, 1678. The Behaviour of Mr. William Stayley in Newgate. . . . 4to, 1678. The Execution of William Staley. 410, 1678. An Account of the Digging up of the Quarters of William Stayley. 1678. A broadside. CIVIC PAGEANTS, ETC. Chryso-Thriambos : The Triumphs of Gold. At the Inauguration of Sir James Pemberton, Knight, in the Dignity of Lord Mayor of London, on Tuesday the 29 of October, 161 1. Performed in the hearty Love, and at the Charges of the Right Worshipful, worthy, and ancient Company of Goldsmiths. Devised and written by A. M., Cittizen and Draper of London. 4to [1611]. The Triumphs of Truth : A Solemnity unparalleled for Cost, Art, and Magnificence, at the Confirmation and Establishment of that worthy and true Nobly-minded Gentleman, Sir Thomas Middleton, Knight ; in the Honourable Office of his Majesty's Lieutenant the Lord Maior of the thrice famous City of London. Taking Beginning at his Lordships going, and proceeding after his Return from receiving the Oath of Mayoralty at Westminster, on the Morrow next after Simon and Judes Day, October 29, 1613. All the Showes, Pageants, Chariots; Morning, Noone, and Night-Triumphs. Directed, written, and redeemed into Form, from the Ignorance of some former Times, and their common Writer, by Thomas TIIK GOLDSMITHS. 249 Middlcton. Shewing also his Lordships Entertainment upon Michaelmas Day last, being the Day of his Election, at that most famous and admired Work of the Running Stream from Aimvell Head into the Cestern at Islington ; being the sole Cost, Industry, and Invention of the worthy Mr. Hugh Middleton, of London, Goldsmith, 4to, 1613. There are two editions of this pageant in 1613, one wanting the Entertainment at the New River Head. Reprinted in Middleton's Works. A Speech made to his Excellency the Lord General Monk and the Council of State, at Goldsmiths' Hall in London, the loth day of April, 1660. At which time they were entertained by that honourable Company. After a Song, in four parts, at the conclusion of a Chorus, Enter a Sea-Captain. [By T. Jordan.] 1660. A broadside. Two editions. The other gives the name of Yeokney, or Young, as the spokesman, and has a shorter title. The Goldsmith's Jubilee: Or, London's Triumphs. Containing a Description of the several Pageants : On which are Represented Emblematical Figures, Artful Pieces of Architecture, and Rural Dancing : With the Speeches spoken on each Pageant. Performed October 29, 1674, for the Entertainment of the Right Honourable and truly Noble Pattern of Prudence and Loyalty, Sir Robert Vyner, K* and Bart., Lord Mayor of the City of London : At the Proper Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. The King's Most Sacred Majesty and his Royal Consort, their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Rupert, the Duke of Monmouth, several Foreign Embassadors, Chief Nobility, and Secretaries of State, honouring the City with their Presence. Composed by Thomas Jordan. 410, 1674. London's Triumph, Or the Goldsmith's Jubilee : Performed on Saturday, October xxix., 1687. For the Confirmation and Entertainment of the Right Honourable Sir John Shorter, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing a Descrip- tion of the several Pageants and Speeches . . . together with a Song for the Entertainment of His Majesty. ... All set forth at the proper Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. By M. Taubman. Folio, 1687. With four etchings illustrative of the ceremony. Glory's Resurrection; Being the Triumphs of London Revived, For the Inauguration of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Child, K , Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing the Description (and also the Sculptures) of the Pageant, and the whole Solemnity of the Day. All set forth at the proper Cost and Charge of the Honourable Company of Goldsmiths. Published by Authority. Folio, 1698. With four copperplate engravings. 250 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Stunners. The passage in Hamlet, where the virtues of tanning are mentioned, is almost too .veil known to call for repetition :— " Ham. — How long will a man lie i' the earth, ere he rot ? i Clown. — Faith, if he be not rotten before he die . . . he will last you some eight year, or nine year ; a tanner will last you nine year. Ham — Why he more than another ? i Clown. — Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep out water a great while ; and your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body." THIS Craft-Gild ministered to a taste which, in its origin, was a natural resource in colder climates, and a necessity of life, but became, as the variety of choice extended, and more beautiful and costlier furs were introduced from other countries, an article of luxury and an object of legislation. We receive rather imposing accounts of the richer furs, which were used by Anglo-Saxon men and women of rank as personal ornaments ; but the habit was of course in those days of extremely narrow observ- ance ; and the recorded cases may perhaps chiefly serve to prove the contrary rule. Even in the time of Edward I., when we begin to acquire a better knowledge of our history, the use of furs was limited, both in extent and character ; and it was only as our relations with foreign regions, through the development of commercial enterprise at home and abroad, grew more habitual and general, that our merchants enjoyed facilities for obtaining the commodities of this class, which rendered their business at once more varied and more lucrative. During a lengthened period, the skins of coneys and other indigenous fur- bearing animals were exclusively employed and worn by all but indi- viduals of high rank and great wealth. Supervisors of hides were appointed to make search for those that were false and badly tanned, and on conviction, the offenders forfeited them to the Sheriffs. A case is noticed in 1320, where hides of this sort had been brought to the City to be made into boots and shoes, and of lnom entrr 0 au uiiftm q) arn illfrr 252 THE GREAT COMPANIES. of the fraudulent sale of old furs as new by hawkers ; and the Company is empowered to elect overseers to make search for deceitful and spurious wares, and to present delinquents to the Lord Mayor. The right is also accorded of attending the fairs at St. Botolph's, Winchester, St. Ives, Stamford, St. Edmund's Bury, and elsewhere within the realm, and making search for false goods in like manner. The two most ancient books in the hands of the Company are the original records of the two Fraternities of Corpus Christi and the Virgin respectively, prior to their incorporation as one Gild. In the former appear the Ordinances which were drawn up for the guidance of the members and the executive in 39 Edward III., and approved by the Court of Aldermen. The articles related to the separation of old and new peltry, so that no man should work both, lest he should mix them ; to the view of all goods by the Wardens prior to sale or removal out of the City bounds, furs brought from abroad inclusive ; to the attendance at religious rites ; to fines for refusal to serve offices ; to observance of hours by workmen ; to apprentices ; to oaths ; and to pleas of Court, which were not to be made by freemen without the leave of the governing body. These bye-laws shew that the necessity was felt for an unusual degree of stringency and vigilance in preventing fraud or abuses. The grey furs of Flanders are stated to have been often stuffed with chalk. The freemen of the Craft were limited at this period in their abode to Wai- brook, Cornhill, and Budge Row ; but this restriction can scarcely be taken to affect their mart at Leadenhall. The Company has a later code of Ordinances, dated 1676, partaking of the usual character, and substantially following the lines of that of 1365-6. The second charter of the Company, 16 Richard II., April 20, is partly an inspeximuSi and recites that, " We, for the devotion of the said Skinners in this behalf, which seems good and holy, having consideration of our special grace and for sixty pounds, which the same Skinners to us had paid into the hanaper, the said letters of him our grandfather . . . approve and ratify." Here the Gild is described as, "The Skinners and the men of the Mistery ; " and the grant proceeds to state as one of its objects the increase of the fraternity of Skinners, and other persons, whom to the same they will receive, to authorize the yearly election for ever of a Master Warden and four others from the body for the government thereof, to enact that the brethren and sisteren shall receive a new livery annually of one and the same pattern, and shall make procession at the feast of Corpus Christi, and afterward celebrate an entertainment in any competent place within the City of London for THE SKINNERS. 253 the same assigned. Finally, the Gild had licence in mortmain to the value of twenty marks by the year, both within and without the City, for the support of two chaplains to perform all necessary acts of piety. It had been between 1327 and 1392 that the two branches of the Fraternity, that first settled on Dowgate Hill, in Walbrook parish, and then at St. Mary Bethlehem, and the other belonging to St. Mary Spital, consolidated themselves into one body, and therefore the charter of Richard comprehended the whole Craft for the first time. There seems to be some basis for the supposition that between the charter just cited and that of Henry VII., one of 16 Henry VI. ought to find a place in the series. Herbert states that such an one is specified in the calendars of the Patent Rolls, and that it prescribed ordinances. But there is some confusion between it and that of Henry VII., which immediately succeeds in order ; and it is worthy of notice that in her inspeximns Elizabeth names nothing between 1392 and 1500, the re- puted grant of Henry VI. of course belonging to 1438. The charter of the 16 Henry VII. (Feb. 22, 1500-1) recites that of 1392, and emphasizes the recognition of the Gild as one united brother- hood, that is to say, as the amalgamated Fraternities of Corpus Christi at St. John in Walbrook, and that of the Virgin at St. Mary Spital, between Moorfields and Bishopsgate. It specifies the governing body as the Master and Wardens of the Gild or Fraternity of Corpus Christi of the Skinners of London, confers the power of pleading and being im- pleaded, and renews the rights connected with the supervision of the trade in the City and at fairs, subject to the Master and Wardens being sworn at Guildhall, on election, to execute faithfully the trust reposed in them. This grant enters with particular nicety into the regulations concerning the treatment of furs and the prevention of frauds commonly perpetrated by members of the mistery and others. The details prove that at this time a vast advance had been made in the variety and choice of these articles, and that a very extensive trade existed in them between this country and the Continent or even more distant regions. This was succeeded by inspeximus instruments of June 8, 1558,4-5 Philip and Mary, and March 22, 1560-1, 2 Elizabeth, in the latter of which still more elaborate details are given of the modes for importing and dressing furs ; and it is stated that it had been shown how it would be to the general advantage, if furs were brought into the country in a way suitable to their several kinds. Hence it appears that there was a principle of calculating by " beasts, tiers, and bellies " ; and we hear of fur of minever of seven tiers or 100 bellies, and of 8 tiers or 120 bellies ; fur of biso of eight tiers or 72 beasts, fur of popell or squirrel 254 THE GREAT COMPANIES. of 7 tiers or 60 beasts, hoods of minever pure of forty bellies, and of super-pure of 32 bellies, and so on. The charter of 2 Elizabeth was confirmed and enlarged by that of 4 James I. (Dec. 2, 1606), which is the Company's acting one. It recites that of the late Queen Elizabeth and the Act of Parliament 3 James I., November 5, entitled, " An Act for the relief of such as lawfully use the trade and handicraft of Skinners," and proceeds to lay restrictions on the exportation of coney-skins and such matters, but is principally occupied by the formulation of a new governing scheme for the Company, necessitated, it may be concluded, by a certain amount of unfairness and illegality in the election of persons not belonging to the craft to responsible offices. The King therefore prescribes, that where the Master is not a professional skinner, the Wardens shall be so, and that the mastership cannot be held by any not a skinner in two years successively ; while, where the Master was a skinner, the Wardens, or two of them, might be unprofessional members of the Gild. The King approves of the appointment of Assistants, but directs that one half of them should be skinners by calling, and nominates certain persons, citizens and skinners of London, to be added to the existing body during life. The instrument likewise creates two Deputy-Searchers, to serve under the Master and Wardens in exercising the powers of the Gild in that behalf. This grant ought to be read with the knowledge that during the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, and down to 1606, serious discontent and complaint had prevailed among the working men of the Gild through an insufficient recognition of their rights and interests ; and the present attempt on the part of James to popularize the constitution by the admittance of supplementary members to the Court from the body of freemen, and the restraint laid on the future preponderance of members of other crafts or private individuals in the administration, was naturally viewed by the oligarchy in power as a dangerous blow to its influence and prospects. The charter of 1606 has been characterized as clandestine and ex parte ; but from the tenor, of the Act of November 5 just previous, it is almost obvious that the renewal had been sought by the Company itself in the usual manner, and that the democratic features in it were inserted in compliance with representations addressed to the King and with notorious facts. The Company, however, when the truth transpired, and the royal nominees presented themselves for acceptance, refused to acknowledge the instrument and its operation, and laid a case before the Privy Council, in which it was set forth that the proposed innovations in the electoral and executive systems were entirely contrary to its wishes and THE SKINNERS. 255 welfare, and had been conceded without its privity ; and by two orders of Council, February 8 and March 22, 1606-7, the obnoxious clauses of the charter were revoked. After the accession of Charles I. in 1625, the Skinners, who, by reason of the miscarriage of the Artisans' Charter in the previous reign and its withdrawal, had had no confirmation of their grant since 2 Elizabeth, found themselves involved in the despotic Scire Facias writ of Charles I., directed to the Corporation itself and all the privileged bodies in the City. The Skinners accordingly surrendered their charter and title- deeds, and the matter remained in abeyance till 1641, when, the Long Parliament having reversed the writ of 1625, the King assented to the restitution of the forfeited possessions and securities, but failed, in con- sequence of the perturbed condition of affairs, to proceed farther. The Skinners therefore continued as before to act on their charter of 2 Elizabeth, which substantially upheld all their pretensions, and indeed on the valid portions of that of James I., which constituted, outside those conditions ultimately withdrawn, little more than an inspejcimus of that of 1560-1. After the Restoration, the Skinners waited several years before they approached the Crown with a prayer for a new charter. But in 19 Charles II. (June 28, 1667) they obtained one, which rehearses some of the familiar points, but which is curious and exceptional, inasmuch as it states that the trade was then in a fairly flourishing condition, and that not only certain technical phrases had become obsolete and unintelligible by process of time, but the methods pursued in the manufacture were different. The charter recites the Act 3 James I. for the relief of Artisan Skinners, and lays stress on the encouragement of the trade in those skins which could be procured in England, especially those of rabbits of various colours. It deals with the lax observance of certain statutes made for its control, particularly the practice on the part of persons not out of their apprenticeship of making muffs, furring gar- ments, gloves and other articles, with the questions of dividing the wools from the skins of rabbits and others, and of hiring journeymen to work for them, all these matters being in contravention of the charters. It was now accordingly declared that the power vested in the Master and Wardens of the Skinners and their successors, in the nature of privileges, exemptions, and jurisdiction was continued to them ; that their title to all their acquired possessions was confirmed, to be held by such tenures as they had been accustomed ; and that the Master and Wardens were at liberty to frame ordinances for the good government of the Gild. The writ of Quo Warranto, issued in 1684 against all the City franchises, applied of course to the Skinners, who again surrendered 256 THE GREAT COMPANIES. their charter; and in I James II. (April 4, 1685) received a fresh one, following the lines of that of 1667 in some respects, but embracing some very arbitrary and unconstitutional provisions, while it gave liberty for the use of a common seal, the erection of a Court of Assistants, and the appointment of a Clerk. The King, in fact, reserved to himself and his heirs the nomination of the Court, the approval of the Clerk, and the right of removing any or all of the governing body at pleasure, prescribed that the Master, Wardens, and Assistants should be under the jurisdiction of the Court of Aldermen, and that no Catholic or Dissenter should be admitted to the Company. But the whole of the extraneous matter introduced into this grant was, as usual, rescinded and annulled in the first year of the following reign by an Act of Parliament passed, " for Reversing the Judgment in a Quo Warranto against the City of London, and for restoring the City of London to its ancient Rights and Privileges." Leadenhall Market, where the Skinners formerly possessed a con- siderable amount of house property, known as Skinners' Row, was the ancient centre of their trade, and had probably owed its connection with the Gild to the neighbourhood of the separate Fraternity of St. Mary Spital to that emporium, previously to the union of the two bodies in the fourteenth century. The Skinners, as originally constituted, were, of course, a Craft Gild ; even in the charter of 1667, only "such as use the trade, mistery, and occupation of handicraft Skinners " are recognised ; and the operative element was bound to be more or less influential, and to prove a chronic source of friction and trouble, when the executive body and the leading members of the Company gradually obeyed a tendency to detach themselves from practical relations with trade, as the trust and corporate estates grew in importance, and alone formed an amply sufficient employment and dependence. We do not find in the charter the customary terms of description applied to the Gild. Its members are at first addressed as the "Men called Skinners" (1327), or the "Skinners and Men of the Mistery" (1392), or the "Mistery of Skinners" (1558). In 1501, in the charter of Henry VII., and in 1685, in that of James II., they occur as the "Master and Wardens of the Gild or Fraternity of Skinners." But the phrase "commonalty" is never employed. This apparent anomaly may have something to do with the tendency of the journeymen to alienation, which we detect as early as 1606, when they tried without success to gain a footing on the Court. The Artisans or Freemen always maintained a certain share of authority and consideration ; and in 1733 they were joined and sup- THE SKINNERS. 257 ported by the Master and Wardens in a petition to Parliament against the duty on rabbits' skins. It was a common cause. Yet by that time the Company must have arrived at a stage when the details of com- merce were a matter of indifference. The dissatisfaction of the Artisans with their standing in the Gild manifested itself once more in 1744, in a remonstrance to the Court in which the complainants represented their grievances and the con- cession made to them by James I. in the cancelled charter of 1606. But the Court, while expressing its willingness to afford the Artisan Skinners all reasonable aid in the redress of their hardships, adhered to the view that the charter of 1606 was clandestinely obtained, and constutionally and properly revoked. The aggrieved .body, however, persisted in their contentions, and in February, 1744-5, served the Court with a copy of a rule for a mandamus to choose a certain number of their class for seats on the Court A return was ultimately made to the writ, and the plaintiffs lost the day. The proceedings did not end there ; and in 1748 a trial in respect of an alleged false return to the writ of 1744 took place in the King's Bench, and terminated in the acquittal of the defen- dants. This verdict brought the contest, if not the quarrel, to a close ;•> the issue was so far not very material, since the Company was at this time, as we know, emerging from its pristine condition and structure into an organically new life as an uncommercial, fiduciary and benevolent cor- poration. The earliest home of the Skinners appears to have been in the parishes of St. John upon Walbrook and St. Martin Orgar, and is perhaps to be identified with the spot on Dowgate Hill in the former parish where the premises of the Company now stand. But a second community belonging to the same craft, and eventually incorporated with those at Dowgate Hill, is found in St. Mary Axe and at St. Mary Spital, in the latter of which quarters they contracted a liability to contribute to the restoration of London Wall between Aldgate and Bevis Marks. The site on Dowgate Hill purports to have been purchased by the Skinners in the time of Henry III., who granted them licence in mortmain for the power to hold the same, with buildings thereon, namely, four tenements in the former, and two in the latter, parish, five being apparently shops. The value by the year was I2/. 6s. 8d., which argues a somewhat important area. In the 19 Edward II. (1326), however, this property had left the hands of the Gild, which seems to have c.c. I 258 THE GREAT COMPANIES. removed to St. Mary Bethlehem, between Bishopsgate and Moorfields, and belonged to the celebrated soldier, Ralph de Cobham ; and owing to the circumstance that he demised his estate to the Crown, the place reverted in the reign of Edward III., as it is supposed, to the former owners, who thus returned to their old Walbrook seat. Yet in 1392 no progress seems to have been made toward the erection of any suitable place of assembly, as the yearly feast of Corpus Christi was then to be held in any competent spot within the City for it appointed. Very little is to be learned about the origin of a Hall and its customary appurtenances, — except that the Fraternity of Corpus Christi and the Virgin, which had a chapel annexed to St. Mildred's in the Poultry down to the Reformation, was probably this united Gild, — from 1392 down to the period when it is described by Stow as " a fair house sometime called Copped Hall," a name which reminds us of the old Conyers' seat in Essex ; nor do we know whether the premises were the old tenements altered or a new building, beyond the statement in Stow (1633), that during the occupation of Ralph Cobham or De Cobham the property consisted of his house and five shops. But possibly some of the ancient tenements had been converted into places of business since Cobham's time. After the fall of the Commonwealth, General Monk was entertained at several of the Halls of the Companies ; and he attended at the Skinners' on the loth April, 1660, when Pepys, under date of the nth, notes that the General found the Parliament arms already supplanted by the Royal. Whatever stood on the ground evidently perished in the fire of 1666; and of the structure erected after that calamity there are several accounts. Strype speaks of it as situated in Dowgate, fairly built since the fire of London, at an expense of above i,8oo/., and adds that the Lord Mayor sometimes kept his official residence there, on account of its good accommodation, and that the New East India Company held their general courts there, while it remained a separate body, paying 3oo/. a year rent. It had a large quadrangle, says Strype, paved with freestone. The New View of London, 1708, terms it "a noble structure built with fine bricks and richly finished, the hall with right wainscot, and the great parlour with odoriferous cedar." It was subsequently much altered, both within and without, by Jupp, who destroyed some of the original characteristic features of the place, including the cedar wainscot. We do not meet with many notices of the effect of the Fire on this Company ; yet it must have wrought terrible damage to the City pro- perty, and we are aware how it reduced the strongest of these bodies to the brink of ruin. But we perceive that not many months later the THE SKINNERS. 259 Skinners applied for a fresh charter, in which it seems to be shown that their affairs were then tolerably prosperous. The Skinners boast an unusually proud list of royal personages who have been honorary members of their fellowship. It opens with Edward III. and his queen, and comprises the Black Prince, Richard II. and his queen, Henry IV. and his queen, King Henry V. and his queen, Henry VI., Edward IV. and his queen, and a long series of noble and distinguished men and women. The principal figure in their early history, however, is Sir Andrew Judd, the founder of Tonbridge School, whose endowment was after- wards augmented by other members of the Company. Judd was four times Master, and Mayor in 1550. He was a native of Tonbridge and a distant relative of Archbishop Chichele. He died September 4, 1558, and was buried at St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, with great splendour. The Skinners came into possession of the management and control of Tonbridge School under the provisions of his will in 1558, in connection with the general scheme of the Government of Edward VI. for establishing grammar schools throughout England. The school at Tonbridge was originally limited to instruction in the rudiments under one master and one usher. The estate supporting the charity consists of property in the City of London, and of the Sandhills estate on the south side of the New Road in the parish of St. Pancras. This is described in the devise of 1558 as "a close of pasture, with the appurtenances called the Sandhills, situate, lying, and being on the back side of Holborn . . . being of the yearly value of i^l. 6s. Sd" This land at present comprises the area extending from Tonbridge Street on the east to Burton Street on the west, and Leigh Street on the south. In consequence of some litigation in and about 1825, a varied scheme was settled, and the Company made certain exchanges of property, including premises in Leadenhall Market. These arrangements were completed in 1841. The St. Pancras estate above mentioned was let on building leases for ninety-nine years in 1807 to James Burton, Esq., at ° eoo7. a year ; and the Company has since that period largely profited by the constantly rising value of land and demand for railway and other public purposes, the Midland line having paid 32,ooo/. for a portion of the St. Pancras estate. But, on the other hand, the Skinners have expended large sums on their school and for other beneficial objects, as appears in the elaborate accounts presented to Parliament in 1882. The order of precedence among the Livery Companies is at present settled beyond the likelihood of any fresh disturbance or controversy. 26O THE GREAT COMPANIES. The mode in which civic processions, of which they formed part, were to be regulated, was insensibly fixed and recognised by custom ; but in cases where the priority was doubtful or close, questions were apt to arise, and twice in the annals of these Associations serious commotions arose on this point. In 1339 there was a dispute between the Skinners and the Fishmongers, which assumed the proportions of a riot in the streets, and resulted in the ringleaders being executed ; and in 1483 a second altercation, which was amicably arranged, occurred with the Taylors. Stow graphically describes the Skinners' Corpus Christi procession. He observes : " This Fraternity had also once every yeare on Corpus Christi day, after noone a Procession which passed through the principall streets of the City, wherein are borne more than one hundred torches of Waxe (costly garnished) burning light, and above two hundred Clerkes and Priests in Surplesses and Coapes, singing. After the which were the Sheriffes' servants, the Clerkes of the Compters, Chaplaines for the Sheriffes, the Major's Serjeants, the Councell of the City, the Maior and Aldermen in Scarlet, and then the Skinners in their best Liveries." The same authority furnishes a list of twenty mayors between 1348 and 1698, who were of this Fraternity. Below will be found a list of the printed pageants, commencing with that of 1585, which is, next to that of the Ironmongers, 1566, the most ancient of the published series. It has been seen that by the charter of 16 Richard II. it is reserved to the Gild to admit other than followers of the vocation, with a view to the fuller and more speedy development of it. But it was probably in contemplation that the outsiders should at any rate belong to other branches of the same industry. In 23 Henry VI., of the entire Fraternity, which was doubtless not large, nineteen are described in the Company's books as : doctors (i), gentlemen (3), of no trade or descrip- tion (9), butchers (2), dyers (i), joiners (i), grocers (i), and silk-wives (i). The numbers in 1537 of the " Freemen Householders " were 141. In 1699 the Livery counted 180; in 1724, 192. At a poll in 1722, only 124 voted. In 1742, the figures were 137 ; in 1796, 150 ; in 1834, 200 ; and in 1892, 150. In 1738, the calls to the Livery, 27 in number, exhibited a continu- ance of the hybrid character of the Company. They included six skin- ners, one gentleman, one grocer, two linen-drapers, two upholsterers or upholders, one glover, one tallow-chandler, one butcher, one plaisterer, one victualler or innholder, one mum-merchant, one watchmaker, one feltmaker, one haberdasher, one wharfinger, one taylor, one timber-mer- chant, and three not described. THE SKINNERS. 26 I In the ten years 1870-9 both the income and expenditure of the Skinners considerably increased, the former, partly owing to a rise in the value of the Irish property, and partly to improvements in the London estate ; the latter, chiefly by reason of an enlargement of grants and donations for charitable and other allied purposes. The Skinners eventually bought the shares held in the Irish plan- tation by the Stationers and Bakers, and assumed the management of that of the Girdlers ; and they seem to have succeeded of late years in raising the income from this source very considerably. In 1879 the aggregate revenue of the three subshares was upward of 2,5OO/. The new owners borrowed 6o,ooo/. to enable them to carry out these arrangements. The Girdlers receive the nett rent of their portion, the other Company undertaking the administration and agency. LITERARY NOTICES. The Generall Greeuance of all England, Man, Woman, and Child : To the High and Honourable Court of Parliament. [In relation to the transportation or export of raw hides. About 1625.] A broadside. This document more especially refers to the injury sustained by curriers, shoemakers, and cobblers. Schola Tunbridgiensis. By John Stockwood. 8vo, 1619. The Case and Condition of K. Tichbourn, Late Alderman, and now Prisoner in the Tower of London. Presented to the Consideration and Compassion of his Fellow-Citizens. 4to, 1661. CIVIC PAGEANTS, ETC. The Device of the Pageant borne before Sir Wolstone Dixie, Lord Mayor of London, October 29, 1585. By George Peele. 4to, 1585. Reprinted in Strype's edition of Stovve's Survey, folio, 1720, book v., pp. 136, 137; in Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, ii. 221, and in the editions of Peele's Works. This pageant is curious and valuable ; not only for the poetry, but because it describes the flourishing state of the metropolis in the days of Queen Elizabeth. The dramatis per sonce, represented by the children of the pageant, are, London, Magnanimity, Loyalty, the Country, the Thames, the Soldier, the Sailor, Science, and first, second, third, and fourth Nymphs, who have all appropriate speeches assigned to them. The Device of the Pageant borne before the Right Hon. Martyn Colthorpe, Lord Mayor of the City of London, 29 October, 1588 : Licensed for the press this year, but not at present known. See my Handbook, 1867, p. 450. The Triumphs of Love and Antiquity: An Honourable Solemnity performed through the City, at the Confirmation and Establishment of the Right Honour- able Sir William Cockayn, Knight, in the Office of his Majesty's Lieutenant the Lord Mayor of the Famous City of London : Taking beginning in the morning at his Lordship's going, and perfecting itself after his return from receiving the oath of Mayoralty at Westminster, on the morrow after Simon and Jude's Day? October 29, 1619. By Thomas Middleton. 4to, 1619. Britannia's Honor : Brightly Shining in seuerall Magnificent Shewes or Pageants, to Celebrate the Solemnity of the Right Honorable Richard Deane. At his Inauguration into the Majoralty of the Honourable City of London, on Wednes- day, October the 29th, 1628. At the Particular Cost, and Charges of the Right Worshipfull, Worthy, and Ancient Society of Skynners. By Tho. Dekker. 4to, 1628. 262 THE GREAT COMPANIES. London's Triumph ; Or, The Solemn and Magnificent Reception of that Honourable Gentleman, Robert Tichborn, Lord Mayor : After his return from taking the Oath at Westminster, the morrow after Simon and Jude day, being October 29, 1656. With the Speeches spoken at Fosterlane-end and Soperlane-end. By J[ohn] B[ulteel]. 410, 1656. London's Triumphs : Celebrated the 29th day of this present month of October, 1657, In Honour of the truly Deserving Richard Chiverton, Lord Mayor of the City of London, at the Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Skin- ners. By J. Tatham. 4to, 1657. A Speech made to his Excellency, Lord General Monck, and the Council of State, at Skinners' Hall, on Wednesday, being the fourth of April, 1660, at which time he was nobly entertained by that honourable Company. [1660.] A broadside by T. Jordan. A Speech made to his Excellency, the Lord General Monck, at Skinners' Hall, on Wednesday, being the 4th of April, 1660. . . . [Another edition purporting to have been spoken by Walter Yeokners.] 1660. A broadside. A Song to his Excellency the Lord General Monck, at Skinners Hall on Wednes- day, Aprill 4, 1660. At which time he was entertained by that Honourable Com- pany. 1660. A broadside. Londinum Triumphans ; or, London's Triumph : Celebrated in Honour of the truly- deserving Sir Anthony Bateman, Knight, Lord Mayor of London, and done at the Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, on the 29th of October, 1663. By John Tatham. 410, 1663. London's Resurrection to Joy and Triumph : Expressed in sundry Shewes, Shapes, Scenes, Speeches, and Songs in Parts. Celebrious to the much-meriting Magis- trate, Sir George Waterman, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. At the peculiar and proper Expenses of the Worshipful Company of the Skinners. The King, Queen, and Duke of York, and most of the Nobility being present. Written by Thomas Jordan. 410, 1671. *% Some copies were printed without a mention of the Court being present, and without the con- cluding leaf on which the account is given. London's Great Jubilee, Restored and Performed on Tuesday, October the 29th, 1689, for the Entertainment of the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Pilkington, Kt., Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing a Description of the several Pageants and Speeches, together with a Song, for the Entertainment of Their Majesties, who, with their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Den- mark, the whole Court, and both Houses of Parliament, honoured his Lordship this Year with their Presence. All set forth at the proper Costs and Charges of the Right Worshipful Company of Skinners. By Matthew Taubman. 4to, 1689. »% This pageant was revived in 1761 on the occasion of the visit of George III. to the City, when Sir T. Fludyer entered on office, .and it was printed the same year in 8vo. Accompanying the Drapers' Pageant for 1679 by. Thomas Jordan, is an Address to the Skinners' Company by John Tatham. Sir Humphrey Edwin, Citizen and Barber-Surgeon, was elected Mayor in 1698, and thereupon, agreeably to custom, translated himself to this Company. But owing to his opinions as a non-juror there was no show, although in HalliwelPs Dictionary of Old English Plays, 1860, it is stated that a descriptive account— perhaps of what was in- tended—was written by Elkanah Settle, and printed, folio, 1698. THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 263 ZTbe jflfeercbant THE annals of the Taylors before their elevation into a Fraternity are principally remarkable for the legend of the devil making his way, accompanied by Pride, into their haunts in Birchin Lane, where he had hoped to have received a friendly welcome, but was so sharply set upon by the linen-armourers and their very prentices with their Spanish needles, that he wished himself well out of their reach. The locality named afterward became the quarter of the second-hand clothes' dealers. The Company's books commence with the year 1299-1300, the date of their licence from Edward I., and give the names of the Masters and Wardens thenceforward ; but some are missing. The Gild of Pilgrims, of which Warner le Tournour was then Alderman, is enumerated, how- ever, among the eighteen unlicensed bodies in 1180, and was required to pay 405-., which was apparently never done ; and we can have no hesita- tion in concluding that this was the present Company. It has been already shown, under the account of the GOLDSMITHS, that the present Gild was engaged in 1267— 8 in a dispute with. them ; and this is, in fact, the next earliest clue which seems to survive. It is even doubtful whether the date of the affray has been correctly given : Stow, in his Chronicle, 1615, assigns it to 1268 ; but Herbert places the incident under 1226. In 1304 another very serious disturbance arose, and also at night, on the same spot, in which the Taylors were again implicated. The occasion or cause is not stated in either case. 264 THE GREAT COMPANIES. The licence accorded by Edward I. in 1299 to the Gild to assume the name and title of Taylors and Linen Armourers, is not only one of the earliest references extant, but importantly and decisively indicates the operative functions of this Society, in connection with the lining and quilting of armour, as well as with the more ordinary forms of industry with which we associate the calling. The Merchant-Taylor of the Plan- tagenet era was naturally a product of contemporary fashions and re- quirements ; the use of armour was universal among a very large section of the community in all parts of the kingdom ; the warlike policy pursued by Edward I. and III. at home and abroad made the call and market for military appliances and outfits immeasurably more active than it had ever been before ; and the linen-armourer of that time must, as a privileged monopolist, have found his vocation busy and lucrative. THE COMMON SEAL. We rely on the voucher of Stow for the statement that on St. John the Baptist's day, 1300, the Taylors and Linen- Armourers chose a Master and four Wardens, the former entitled the Pilgrim, as being the traveller for the whole Company, and the latter " the purveyors of alms or quarterages." Hence, as well as in the far more ancient record above cited, we perceive that here there was a strong desire from the outset to communicate to the movement a distinctly religious tone and side. The Gild, a few years later, addressed a petition to the Crown, repre- senting the wish for incorporation, whereas "from the time whereof there is no memory " they had held their assemblies once a year to govern the mistery and settle its affairs ; and in March, 1326-7, the first charter, an instrument of limited scope, was received from Edward III., enacting that only freemen should follow the craft within the City, and that none should have the freedom, unless he were vouched by honest THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 265 and lawful men of the mistery to be honest, faithful, and fit for the same. The succeeding grant of Richard II. in 1390 conferred the power of creating a Master and four Wardens at their pleasure, and entitled this body to draw up ordinances for the management of the whole Fellowship. In the course of the reign of Henry IV. the Company obtained no fewer than three grants ; the first and second confirmatory in the second and sixth years (1400-1 and 1404-5), and a third, in 1407-8, addressed to the Wardens, who are named, whereby the privileges were am- plified, and the use of a common seal sanctioned. Here the Gild is successively addressed as The Taylors and Fraternity of St. John the Baptist in London, the Taylors of London, Wardens of the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist, where the religious attribute and function are strikingly prominent, and as the Fraternity of Taylors and Linen- Armourers of St. John the Baptist. The broad distinction between those two great manufacturing and trading bodies, the Drapers and Taylors, was, that the former dealt in the woollen goods, and the latter in linen, either for apparel or the garniture of armour. Our Government resisted the effort made to place the foreign dealers and workers in linen on the same footing as those of alien blood or origin carrying on business in the more ancient and more widely-employed material, who were exonerated by Edward III. from tribute to the native Gild of Weavers ; and when the question was carried into the Court of Exchequer, the claim of the strangers was formally disallowed. All branches of this industry were then beginning to assume a new and freer phase ; we were growing independent of our continental instructors ; and the native Taylor and Linen Armourer was already a busy and profitable employment, in the presence of an inex- haustible call for the warlike appointments which we suppose to have been their principal source of labour and profit, and which occupy a proportionately conspicuous position in the earliest and at the same time most characteristic grant of arms to the Gild. In addition to the interior garniture of the armour, of which each several component portion was separate with its technical name, as set out in the dictionaries, the Taylor-Armourer made the doublets and other articles of apparel belonging to civil life ; the quilting and padding of which sometimes rendered them almost weapon-proof, especially when leather was introduced to strengthen the joints or seams. The care, skill, and art involved in making these accoutrements, either prepara- torily to the addition of the metal-work or otherwise, and the extensive demand for such articles of apparel or protection by soldiers of all grades and by the wealthier citizens of London and other leading 266 THE GREAT COMPANIES. places, may elucidate the growth of the craft and its eventual recogni- tion by the Crown as a corporate Fraternity. Very probably, before the rise of the Draper as a separate craft or industry, the Taylor, the more ancient institution, provided for the wants of both sexes ; and those attached to royal and noble establishments undoubtedly attended to the whole department, and employed labour to carry out orders. The Linen-Armourer of an age when the horse, as well as his rider, was protected by iron or steel work, the precursor of the merely orna- mental caparison, found a further channel for his enterprise in that direction ; and it was the more artistic skill, if not the more advantageous conditions, involved in this class of commerce during some centuries, which may have relaxed the interest of the Linen- Armourer in the other branch of his business, and have opened the way to the Draper, who confined himself to the details of every-day civil apparel. Some slight difficulty has been made by Herbert and others in re- spect to the question, whether the Taylor of old days was a salesman as well as a manufacturer. But there seems to be barely any ground for doubting that he filled both parts, so far as his own craft was concerned, as the Draper was a dealer in woollen cloths, and also retailed them in the shape of apparel. But, at the same time, the unique distinction conferred on them by Henry VII., and maintained through subsequent reigns, may tend to shew that the Company, at the close of the fifteenth century, was already segregating itself from petty trade, and in the course of less than a hundred years had relinquished to the yeomanry all active interest in the craft, unless it was in the way of wholesale merchandise. In 1351, the Company admitted their first honorary member, and about two years after came into possession of a chapel at the north door of St. Paul's, where prayers and obits might be offered daily for the spiritual welfare of those of the Fraternity present and to come. In 1455, Pope Calixtus III. granted leave for the celebration of masses on the altars in this edifice, which probably superseded the ancient one in Threadneedle Street. The Saracen's Head, in Friday Street, is believed to have been the first purchase of real property made ; it was bought in 1401 out of the common box. Houses in Bread Street were devised to the Company in 1404; and in 1406, John Churchman, Merchant Taylor, gave his brethren others in Bishopsgate and Threadneedle Streets with the ad- vowson of St. Martin Outwich. The foundation of its trusts was a bequest by Peter Mason of property in the Poultry for eleemosynary objects. THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 267 Successive renewals and enlargements of the privileges and powers were made by Henry VI. in his eighteenth and thirty-first years, by Edward IV. in 1465, and by Henry VII. in 1502; which last is the present acting charter. The charter of Henry VI. accorded the right of search ; but by writ of Privy Seal directed from " The King's Parlour1 at Sheen," August 21, this faculty is revoked; it was restored in the following reign. In the charter of Henry VII. the Company is first described as that of the Merchant Taylors ; a concession due (it is said) to the personal interest of Sir William Fitzwilliam, a member, but not until a proclamation had been issued, inviting the Corporation or others to shew cause against the change within a fixed date;2 and the governing body is authorized to admit any person to the Freedom or otherwise without the let or hinderance of any other mistery. This grant is also remarkable inasmuch as it not merely reinstates the right of search, but contains a clause, vesting in the Merchant Taylors the monopoly of working, cutting, or making men's apparel within the bounds. But no reference occurs to female dress. Our Sovereigns from Henry VIII. to James I. renewed the grants by inspeximuS) and by two licences of the last prince the faculty of the Com- pany of holding in mortmain was extended. The liberty to frame and enforce ordinances at an earlier date notwithstanding, there appears to be no record of any code anterior to 1322, which more directly affects the Armourers, as it interdicts their interference with the lining of armour. The first series of Articles for the internal regulation of the body, consequent on incorporation, and periodically revised and renewed, was drawn up and approved by the City shortly after 1327, and is termed, "Articles of the Armourers." In 45 Edward III., a second edition of these is described as " Articles of the Taylors." There was nothing fresh till 9 Henry VII., July 10, when new "Ordinances of the Taylors " were presumably prepared and submitted to the Court of Aldermen by reason of the recent amplification of privileges and the apparent settlement of the Crown under a new dynasty. These Ordinances of 1487-8 remained, like the charter of the same 1 The discontinuance of this genuine old English term for a conference-chamber at most of the Gild Halls, and in its secondary sense in private houses, is to be regretted. The Directors of the Bank of England still retain the good old-fashioned phrase. Nor can we help thinking, when we read about the parlour of Henry VI. at Sheen, of the famous nursery tale of the four-and-twenty blackbirds, and of the queen, in that delightful fiction, sitting in her parlour eating bread and honey. 2 The Haberdashers were similarly honoured during a brief period ; but the privi- lege was withdrawn, although in official lists of 1509, 1515, and 1531-2, the Company still bears the ampler and more dignified title. 268 THE GREAT COMPANIES. king, the standard text; but they were confirmed in May, 1613, and in May, 1661. They chiefly relate to commonplace internal details. There is also a series of mere forms of adjuration for various purposes. But a curious precept, reciting a former one, had been made in 1310 by the common authority of the City and Crown, that the tailors who had the furs— probably the fur collars and cuffs — of good folks to scour, should only perform the work in Cheap by night or just before day- break, so that great lords or other passing by might not be hindered or annoyed ; and if they were so busy as not to be able to do this at the prescribed times, they were to scour in some dead lane behind St. Martin's le Grand or London Wall. The Ordinances of 1661, however, comprise several clauses relative to those members of the Company who were not also members of the trade ; and we are permitted to conclude that they formed at this period a numerous section, having been admitted, perhaps, rather more freely by reason of the straitened circumstances of the Merchant Taylors at this juncture. For it includes nearly every industry then followed in London, and even discloses several not elsewhere specified ; namely, a butter-seller, a cruet-seller, a milliner, a mealman, an oilman, a sempster, a sailsman, a retail tobacconist, a feather- maker, a perfumer, and a gilder. One of these items refers to the payment of a fee of thirty shillings to the Company's chest for the binding and registration of any one as apprentice to a freeman of the Merchant Taylors, who is also a Mer- chant Adventurer, a Turkey Merchant, a Spanish Merchant, a French Merchant, or the member of any other Association trading beyond the seas. This Gild does not appear to have solicited a charter from Charles II. or James II. ; but it shared the inconvenience of the writ of Quo Warranto in 1684, the operation of which, however, was short-lived, as it suited the interest of James to rescind his brother's obnoxious and unreason- able proceedings. Of the 24,73 1/. due to the Merchant Taylors at the close of the troubles, not more than 2,2 5o/. ever returned to their hands. This occurred in 1668. The reduction of rental was very prolonged, since it was necessary to re-grant the lands on which the tenements had perished in 1666, at very low ground-rents, to tempt and enable old or new tenants to rebuild. In connection with the advances of the Merchant Taylors to the Government on the Public Faith, we find, under date of 1650, a reference to the purchase by them of certain Dean and Chapter's lands, which had formerly belonged to the prebend of Finsbury Moor. This property THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 269 which is frequently cited in the earlier records as a source of trouble to the City, was for some time laid out in gardens and tenter-grounds for the tailors, drapers, and other workers and vendors of cloth ; and it anciently extended to the very walls of London toward the north. The Reformation obliged the Merchant Taylors to surrender their trusts and other property applicable to superstitious uses ; the rental amounting to IO2/. os. lod. a year, besides an assortment of apparel and other chattels connected with their chapel at the north door of St. Paul's. They redeemed only a portion for 2,oo6/. 2s. 6d. Very ample particulars of this branch of the estate are published by Herbert, who adds that the Company, in order to secure part of the forfeiture worth pS/. a year, as an investment, was obliged to sell lands and tenements of the annual value of 124!. Some estimate may be formed of the comparatively slender avail- able corporate resources of the Merchant Taylors in 1549-50, when we thus see that they were unable to raise about 2,000!. to redeem a portion of their Chantry estate, after its forfeiture to the Crown, with- out sacrificing other property, with which they were less reluctant to part ; yet at this point of time the Company seems from inventories to have been in possession of a very large and valuable collection of silver plate. But in some extracts from the books ranging from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, as given by Herbert, we readily perceive that, while the revenue of the Company was incomparably smaller than at present, the demands upon it for public objects, legitimate or otherwise, were incessant and heavy, and that long subsequently to the Great Fire, the corporate finances were still in a very depressed state. A more constitutional Government had succeeded to that of the Stuarts ; but immense damage was inflicted by the Fire ; the connection of the Gild with trade was of little or no value ; and the rental from City property still remained stationary or very slowly progressive. The great stride forward was reserved for the present century, and was due to agencies almost wholly external. The Merchant Taylors, in providing the gross total of 5,ooo/. for the purchase of a twelfth share in the Irish Venture pressed upon the City by James I., arranged with the Clothworkers to take over a certain proportion, as the Grocers did with the Vintners. We hear very little of the mode in which the Company conducted the manage- ment of the estate, or of the measure of success which attended their stewardship ; but in 1727 the property was sold to William Richard- son, Esq., for 2O,ooo/. 6s. 6d., with a reserved rent of 1507. Both Herbert and Mr. Clode supply very copious and adequate 270 THE GREAT COMPANIES. extracts and illustrations of the unceasing part borne by the Merchant Taylors in all descriptions of public occurrences, with the inevitable feature of a call for pecuniary outlay, differing in amount from a few pounds to a few hundreds. Some of these items of expenditure were compulsory, in the shape of requisitions from the Crown for subsidies and loans, or from the City for participation in some royal ceremony ; others were optional and voluntary. In 1469 the Company ranked THE ORIGINAL ARMS. second or third in the muster of men-at-arms for the City Watch, sup- plying 200 men, while the Mercers found the same number, and the Brewers 210. The earliest entry of much significance is in reference to the steps taken by two of the Court in 1480 to arrange with the Heralds' College for the grant of arms, of which we furnish an illustration. The records under 1483 of course mention the difference with the Skinners on the THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 271 question of precedence, sent for trial to the King's Bench, and referred back for settlement to the Lord Mayor, who seems to have proved the difficulty and doubt existing on the subject by his suggestion of a friendly compromise. But the order in which the Companies placed themselves was, as a matter of fact, quite uncertain and irregular till 8 Henry VIII., when the Court of Aldermen formulated what was intended to be a definitive rule for observance. In this List the Taylors are sixth and the Skinners seventh, and the succession is in short the same as at present, except that the Clothworkers are described as S/iermen, and the catalogue embraces no more than forty-eight bodies, concluding with the Fruiterers. In the settlement of precedence at the coronation of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon the Merchant Taylors stood even before the Mercers. In 1563 it deserves notice that William Fleetwood, steward of the Taylors' manor of Rushed, being chosen Recorder of London, a hogs- head of wine was voted to him by the Merchant Taylors. In the following year the Company was approached with respect to some of its property in Lombard Street and Cornhill, in view of the erection of an Exchange. Under 1571 the Lord Mayor issues his precept that ten men of this Gild, and as many of the Vintners', shall watch each of the City gates every tenth day. In 1579-80 there is a requisition from the Crown for the supply and training of 200 men at the Company's charge. In 1586 soldiers are provided to attend the obsequies of Sir Philip Sydney. Thirty- five men-at-arms have to be found to assist in repelling the Spanish invasion. A precept regarding plays and playhouses is received, March 22, 1591-2. On July 5, 1597, John Stow presents a copy of his Annals to the Company, and the Court grants him thereupon an annuity of 4/., suc- cessively increased to 61. and lo/.1 On October 21, 1600, curtains are ordered for the Queen's arms and for the maps given by Mr. John Speed. In 1594, 6o/. are demanded as a second contribution to the pest-house, and 2967. ictf. toward the equipment of six ships for her Majesty's service. In 1602-3 and 1603-4 the Company takes the lead with 936 quarters and a sum of 37/. Ss. gd., in contributing to the storage of corn for the use of the poor, and to the expense for receiving James I. on his entry into London. A Merchant Taylors' boy reads an address to the King at his coronation. In 1607 the visit of James to 1 The Company also restored Stow's monument in the church of St. Andrew Undershaft, originally erected by his widow. 272 THE GREAT COMPANIES. the Company costs upward of i,ooo/., and Ben Jonson writes the dramatic entertainment. 1608. On consideration, French and Dutch tailors are admitted to employment. 1609. The Virginian adventure is discussed. 1610. John Churchman, from whose benefaction the Company derives some very valuable property, and who had served as Master, becomes an almsman through reverses of fortune. Besides usual allowances, a pension of 2O/. a year is settled on him, and he is permitted special privileges. July 16, 1614. No Knights are to be put up for the wardenship, as it is not thought to be consistent. 1625-6, March 21. The Persian Ambassador is allowed to walk in the Com- pany's garden for his recreation, and is invited to dinner on May 10, 1629. The Merchant Taylors give the maximum quota (2257. 15^.) toward the cost of celebrating the coronation of Charles I. 1635, July 14. Certain tenants, bound by their leases to furnish bucks to the Master on the renewal, refuse to perform the covenant, and have the sealing of their new leases postponed till they submit. 1640. October 7. The Merchant Taylors contribute ^"5,000 to the ^"200,000 demanded by the King from the City for the maintenance of the army in the North. 1642, April 16. The Company has to furnish arms and ammunition in aid of the defence of the City. 1645-6, March u. 4O/. are paid toward the expenses of the Scottish troops under the Earl of Leven. 1654. The Company is obliged to sell property to the value of i8o/. a year, and to retrench, in order to meet the drain on its funds, yet votes I3/. 6s. %d. to John Ogilby, a freeman, in recognition of his literary services and merits. 1666, September. The Great Fire. 1684, April 9. The writ of Quo Warranto is served. 1684-5, February 9. The Company requests permission of the Court of Aldermen to put up the statue of James II., ordered by them from Grinling Gibbons. 1687, September 25. The Master and Wardens surrender their office. October 3. They and the other Gilds are re-admitted by letters patent under the Great Seal, directed to the Lord Mayor from Windsor. 1688, May 22. It is ordered that the silver yard be delivered to the Wardens of the Yeomanry, as occasion requires. 1689, October 18. The whole Court, or any five of them, are appointed to consider and examine of what use and benefit the Yeomanry are to this Company, and what advantage they have brought, or damage they have done, to this Company since their restoration. 1702-3, February 7. The Hall and rooms, except the little parlour, the rooms over it, and the Clerk's house, are let to the East India Company at a pepper- corn rent and a fine of 5oo/., till Midsummer, 1709; and on March 12, 1706-7 notice is given of the willingness of the Company to take another tenant on the expiry of the term. The East India Company THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 273 take the premises, however, for another year at a rent of 2oo/. The Merchant Taylors subsequently again let their Hall, between this date and 1721 or later, to the South Sea Company. 1727. The Irish estates are sold. From this time to the reign of George III. we do not hear much of the domestic history of the Company ; but its circumstances- were probably beginning to improve. We have been tempted to offer the preceding extracts as a sort of outline, by way of sample of the manner, in which an important and wealthy body of men, possessing in freehold a landed estate and other property of great and growing value, were subjected during centuries to the most trying and humiliating vicissitudes and extortions ; for the light which this glimpse into the records from 1469 to 1727 affords us is a peculiarly representative one, owing to the community of origin, basis, and constitution. Mutatis mutandis, the archives of all the Gilds, especially of course the greater and richer, tell the same chequered tale, and to meet these calls the personal estate of members necessarily paid heavy toll. Before the Merchant Taylors acquired, 1331, the site of the present Hall in Threadneedle Street, they possessed a place of meeting in Basing Lane, behind the Red Lion, in Cordwainer Street Ward, which still existed -in 1593, and is explicitly described as "the old Hall," for which a tenant then offered himself. When they used the premises in Basing Lane, they were still, at least until 1327, unincorporated ; but the removal to what was more properly called Three-Needle Street, indicates a prosperous condition and strong confidence in the future. For the property represented an important investment and a con- siderable dormant rental. It is described as a dwelling-house, formerly occupied by Sir Oliver de Ingham— who was summoned to Parliament 2 Edward III. as Lord De Ingham, and who died in 1344 without male issue — with its abuttals or easements, and two great gates, one toward Broad Street, the other toward Cornhill. The Merchant Taylors appear to possess the scantiest possible infor- mation concerning the circumstances under which the present building, or even that which stood in 1588, after having undergone extensive repairs, evolved from the structure once owned by Lord de Ingham. Judging from a variety of data, the Ingham mansion was a detached one with approaches from two thoroughfares, Cornhill and Broad Street, and a certain area of garden. The new proprietors, who came into possession of it from the immediate owner, " a worshipful gentleman," as Stow terms him, Edmund Crepin, were scarcely in a position to rebuild ; and the probability may even be, that they found the premises too large C.C. 1 8 274 THE GREAT COMPANIES. for their requirements. The history of the transformation is divisible into two distinct periods: from 1331 to 1666, and from 1666 to the present time. The latter is a subject of inferior interest, though of less obscure character. But it would be very desirable, no doubt, to be able to trace with greater exactitude the successive stages in the work. Almost every point is conjectural ; and as one piece of guess-work is II as good as another, perhaps, we may hazard a speculation that the Fraternity continued for a long time to use the Ingham house, or a portion of it, unaltered, and merely executed repairs or slight alterations as they were needed. The partial, piecemeal method in which the Company worked at a much later period, ought to reconcile us to the view that at first they were still more deliberate and conservative. From certain authoritative statements and indications it may be THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 275 presumed that the existing Hall stands partly on the lines of that before the Fire, but that the latter had been rebuilt at some uncertain date (between 1406 and 1450) on fresh ground, and quite apart from the Ingham Hall and its underlying crypt, which remained little, changed, may-be, from Norman times. Where new work had been introduced, was most likely to be in the offices and dormitories — in those portions used for every- day purposes. It must have been a somewhat ill- appointed and uncomfortable domicile or even meeting-place ; for down to the Elizabethan age the windows of the Hall were unglazed, and admitted the rain, and the floors of the rooms were of the most primitive description. We know that by the gift of John Churchman, in 1406, of seventeen shops and other messuages at St. Martin's Outwich or Otewich, belong- ing to William and John Otewich, whose executor he was, facilities were afforded for the enlargement of the premises on that side ; but we seem to have no evidence when this occurred, or how long the process occupied. In short, so many alterations were effected by degrees in the ground- plan and by the almost indubitable absorption of the Churchman or Otewich group of shops by the church of St. Martin, Outwich, succeeded by the demolition of the church itself, that there is little room for wonder, if those most conversant with the matter are at a loss here. One rather material point in connection with the Churchman gift, thus presumably merged in the Hall, is, that it was " in perpetual alms " for the benefit of the poor brethren and sisters of the Society. From a variety of scattered entries we may just collect that the New Hall, or Taylors' Inn, as it was long termed in distinction from the old house in Basing Lane, was in course of time adorned with costly arras depicting the history of St. John the Baptist, and furnished with a screen surmounted by a gilt image of the patron saint in a gilt tabernacle or portico. The windows were gradually glazed, and many of them embel- lished with armorial bearings of the donors ; sweet rushes were strown on the floor ; tables on trestles ran the whole length of the apartment, and on feast-days were covered with choice table-cloths and the Com- pany's plate ; and from the ceiling were suspended flags and streamers. Besides the Hall or Refectory and the offices, the block of buildings may be taken, in the early Tudor era, to have consisted of the Parlour, the Long Gallery, containing portraits of benefactors, the Bachelors' Gallery for the junior members of the Gild, the King's Chamber, which was used when Henry VII. served as Master, but was rebuilt in 1593, and the garden, with alleys and a terace, and a back-way into Cornhill. In this plot of ground lay the old Ingham Hall, with a crypt beneath it 276 THE GREAT COMPANIES. and a chapel annexed, and the Treasury, where the muniments and plate are said in 1491 to be kept. In the parlour was part of the arras, some oil paintings presented by Mr. Vernon in 1616, a portrait of Sir Thomas White, a picture by Gerard Dow with a silk curtain before it (a practice still followed), and the set of Speed's maps given by him to the Company, similarly pro- tected. This description must be received with caution and indulgence as INTERIOR OF MERCHANT TAYLORS' HALL, 1842. answering to the arguable aspect of the place during the Tudor arid Stuart times, and substantially down to the occurrence of the grand catastrophe of 1666. Yet that the Hall anterior to the Fire was entirely distinct from the Ingham house, and on another site, there is no question ; and indeed we perceive that in 1646 the Merchant Taylors leased the latter, with its crypt or cellar, for twenty-one years to L. Newman, but reserved the passage into Cornhill, inhibited the tenant from building so as to over- THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 277 look the garden, and required him to furnish a fat buck annually against the Election dinner. At present, after the expenditure of vast sums of money in rebuilding and redecorating, the Hall has become one of the most splendid edifices of the kind in London. The ancient Ingham crypt survives ; but the chapel has been converted into a kitchen. Ingham's Hall has doubtless long disappeared. Merchant Taylors' Hall well repays a visit and a study. It is old-fashioned, ample, sumptuous ; and it is stored with a variety of ROSE-WATER DISH OF THE EARLY PART OF THE I/TH CENTURY. interesting and historical remains, besides the portraits of eminent men of more modern date and the collection of antique plate. The most remarkable feature is the series of stained-glass windows in one of the corridors, commemorating the momentary feud for precedence in pro- cessions between the Taylors and the Skinners in 1483-4, which terminated in a friendly compromise and a dinner. The successive stages in the quarrel are depicted with great skill and spirit and with all the impressive accessories of costume and colour ; they exhibit the first hustling and skirmish in the streets, the arrest of some of the rioters, the award of the Mayor, the hand-shaking, and the pacificatory 278 THE GREAT COMPANIES. banquet. The whole is a striking, realistic tableau, forming part of the modern buildings erected between 1878 and 1881. The Company also possesses two magnificent Palls of early em- broidered work, attributed to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and very ineffectively reproduced in Mr. Clode's Memorials ; the silver Seal of the Fraternity, engraved in Mr. Clode's book, and the solid oaken poop of the barge, with the Arms, as well as a coloured drawing of the vessel, now no longer used. The constitution of the Company vests in the Master and four Wardens for the time being all the corporate power and property ; a principle which was, no doubt, adopted in the first place as a matter of convenience and necessity, but which, alike in this and in other parallel cases, has created the anomaly of no title to a share of the assets of the Company belonging, in the event of realization, to the members at large, although their standing has been acquired by a pecuniary pay- ment, and they are partakers of many of the immunities and advantages of association. Should a partition at any period be arranged, it might be difficult to settle in whom the estate is really lodged. The governing body is composed, as usual, of the Master, Wardens, and Assistants ; and there are three standing committees of members of the Court : the Estates, the Charities, and the Schools. There are other occasional committees. The Court must consist of at least thirteen members. In 1501-2 the Livery of the Gild amounted to 84; in 1534, to 97. In 1699 it is returned as 600. In 1710 it had receded to 481. At the parliamentary poll in 1722, 346 voted ; in 1724 the return was 473 ; but the New and Complete Survey, 1742, reckons 394. The History of the School, 1812, speaks of the Livery as consisting of 300. The printed lists of persons entitled to vote in 1832 gave only 265 inclusive, and in 1834, 320. The Returns of 1882 reduce the figures to 226 inclusive ; but those of 1892 give them as 270. The Merchant Taylors, in common with the Mercers, Goldsmiths, and other eventually prominent Gilds, do not figure much in the registers and records of the Corporation in connexion with early trade disputes and scandals. In 1415 the journeymen or yeomen of this calling, who proved a very troublesome element, and one which became at a later period of dubious value, were forbidden to occupy dwellings apart, or to wear any special livery, without the leave of their Wardens. This restriction had reference to a tendency on the part of the working operatives of certain businesses, about and before the commencement of the fifteenth century, to combine together against their principals, and initiate " strikes." THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 279 Looking at these matters with our modern eyes, we see that there was blame on both sides. From an early date many of the Companies conceived an intolerance of the mere holders of the Freedom, with whom the tie of the rest was apt to be more or less loose and more or less purely eleemosynary ; and we have the beginning of a spirit of revolt on the part of the Yeomanry against the overbearing attitude of the Exe- cutive, and of a widening estrangement in the sentiments of the govern- ing section toward those who had been an integral and essential part of the fundamental constitution of these Societies. In this particular case, the recalcitrant workmen were found dwelling in Three Shears Court at Garlick Hill, without official inspection, and were presented to the Lord Mayor, who reprimanded them, and ordered them to withdraw within bounds. In the 4th of Henry VII. the freemen, or Yeomanry, addressed a petition to the Court of Aldermen to be allowed their ancient suffrages in the election of Master and Wardens ; and the municipality fenced the prayer or demand by granting them the exercise of all honest customs as theretofore. The movement indicates a stealthy tendency on the part of the Executive to take the whole government into their own - hands. Two years later, the Yeomen Taylors petitioned the Court of Alder- men to be suffered, agreeably to ancient usage, to assemble at the Church of St. John of Jerusalem in Smithfield, on the Feast of the Decollation of St. John the Baptist, to make offering for their brethren and sisteren deceased, and for other purposes. But the record is im- perfect, and we do not hear what was decided. As the affairs of the Company grew more complex and extensive, it was found that the Yeomanry required a larger share of attention in points of detail and discipline than the normal governing body could afford them ; and some time previously to 1596-7 the Court of Assist- ants resolved, mainly on this account, but partly too, perhaps, to meet the spirit of discontent and insubordination among the lower grades of the Society, to appoint annually thenceforward four Warden Substitutes and sixteen Assistants from the Yeomanry to manage certain matters laid down for them by the Court, and to have the privilege of meeting in the Hall subject to convenience and approval. In some instances, the retiring Wardens were taken up into the Livery. This was an entire innovation on the prevailing practice of the Gilds, and was doubtless adopted in the interests of peace and efficiency. But the experiment did not answer ; the Wardens of the Yeomanry and their colleagues gradually overstepped the limits of their particular jurisdiction ; and in 1661, the Company, after a good deal of sufferance, 280 THE GREAT COMPANIES. abolished the affiliated officers, and proceeded to remodel their internal government. The ascendency of the Court and Livery of the Merchant-Taylors appears to have steadily increased toward the latter part of the seven- teenth century, if we may judge from a question, which was seriously raised and discussed in 1689, whether the Yeomanry was a feature in the system worth preservation. The Company must at this period have almost severed its practical tie with the trade. * Until the abolition of Bartholomew Fair, in 1854, after an existence of seven hundred years, it was customary for the re- presentative of the Company to proceed to Cloth Fair, and to test the measures used for selling cloth there by the Company's silver yard, of which a specimen is still preserved at the Hall. With this exception, we believe that the direct intervention of the Company in trade matters determined in 1691, upon the abolition of the Wardens of the Yeomanry. The official supervision of Cloth Fair formed part of prescrip- tion enjoyed since the charter of 1439, by which the Company exercised the general right of search ; there are registrations of cases, in which possessors of unlawful measures and other cul- prits were proceeded against under this authority; and Professor Morley points to an entertainment held at the Hall on the eve of the search, as if considerable importance was then attached to the process, and others beside the Beadle attended on the occasion. The original practice, while the custom was in full force, was, that the Wardens and Clerk should also attend ; but the Merchant-Taylors during a lengthened period delegated this task to the Wardens of the Yeomanry. When the association with trade and the Fair grew less particular, and these function- aries were abolished, the duty devolved on the Beadle. The cloth-yard arrow, of which we hear in the Robin Hood and other ballads, had its origin here ; and it is worth remark- ing that in the Little Gest of Robin Hood, printed in or before 1508, where Little John measures out the scarlet and green cloth for the Knight, he employs his bow for the purpose, that SILVER being, when bent, perhaps approximately a yard or ell in dia- CLOTH i'ii i YARD, metrical length. It is curious that among the eminent members of the Fraternity the name of Sir John Hawkwood occupies the foremost place, although his connexion with it is excessively doubtful. A distinguished brother, and one of the governing body, was Robert Dove, the friend of Stow. THE MERCHANT TAYLORS. 28 1 An account of him was published in 1612. In 1604 he gave his fellow- gildsmen twenty gilt spoons marked with a dove. He was very probably connected with Thomas Dove of Exeter, the rich clothier, whom Deloney commemorates in his Six Yeomen of the West, published before 1600. Sir William Fitzwilliam, founder of the noble house still extant, belonged to this body, as we have already seen, and is said to have been immediately instrumental in procuring from Henry VII. the more honourable designation of Merchant-Taylors for his Gild. Fitz- william, who had been in the service of Wolsey, and stood firm to him in his fall, left to it in trust a sum of jl. to find a priest to say masses for his soul in the Church of West Ham, Northamptonshire ; but the bequest was for a long time " concealed " by the Company, which was ordered in 1578 to pay the arrears, amounting to IO3/. $s. by instal- ments. This Fitzwilliam was doubtless the descendant of William Fitzwilliam, citizen and goldsmith, who, in 1210, founded the Benedic- tine Nunnery of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. One of the benefactresses is Dame Thomasine Percival, of whom there is so romantic a story John Webster the dramatist was a freeman, and was employed to write the Taylors' Pageant in 1624. There is in one of the rooms at the Hall a long catalogue of royal and noble personages who have been from time to time enrolled as honorary associates. Of those who have belonged to the Gild, however, Sir Thomas White l is facile princeps. But to John Churchman and Richard Hills it owes much. It may be generally observed, that at the present moment the temper and tendency of the Merchant-Taylors are in the direction of extending their eleemosynary and educational grants, and of reducing their sump- tuary expenditure. On their schools and other charities, and on the advancement of culture, they are laying out very large sums. Merchant- Taylors' School alone has cost them within a limited period about I$O,OOO/. 1° l$55t previous to the institution of the school, Sir Thomas White, a member of the Court of the Merchant-Taylors' Company, established St. John's College, Oxford, and reserved forty-three of its fifty endowed fellowships for the scholars ; and in 1561 Mr. Richard Hills, Merchant- Taylor, provided the first payment (5 1829, and tells us that the refectory was a lofty and spacious room, with a wainscot twelve feet high all round, and a music or minstrels' gallery over the screen at the lower end. He also 1 Within the last few years the premises have had one or two narrow escapes, and have been seriously injured. c.c. 19 THE GREAT COMPANIES. supplies a view of the exterior, while the courtyard still remained, and the footway in front was paved with rough flagstones. The Company has four groups of almshouses : Aske's Hospital at Hoxton, the Jones charity at Monmouth and at Newland, Gloucester- shire, and Adams's benefaction at Newport, Salop. They have also under their management four schools : Trotman's in Bunhill Row for 100 boys belonging to the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, Jones's at Mon- mouth for 100 boys belonging to the town or county, Adams's at Newport for 30 boys, and a fourth at Bunbury in Cheshire, instituted in 1594-5. Mr. William Jones, Haberdasher and Merchant Adventurer, the founder of the Jones charities in Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire, was a native of Newland in the latter county. Sir Francis Jones, Lord Mayor in 1620, was of a different family, being the son of John Jones, of Claverley, Salop. It is said of the former, that when he became rich he visited his native town incognito, and was not very hospitably received, and that he subsequently waited on the Mayor of Monmouth, to which place he left a considerable share of his fortune. The Haberdashers received i8,ooo/. His will is dated Dec. 26, 1614 ; and Letters Patent, granting the trusteeship to the Haberdashers, issued on the 1 9th March following, the testator having evidently died in the interval. A fine full-length life-sized portrait of him hangs in the Hall. They have several Exhibitions at the two Universities and a share of ecclesiastical patronage. The Returns and information supplied to the Royal Commission in 1882 were very copious, frank, and satisfactory. Owing to the loss of certain property at Old Change, and the pressure of the Corporate tax, the income has since that time declined, and the expenditure is corre- spondingly curtailed. A peculiar distinction appertains to the Haberdashers, in having had among their number, in the reigns of Edward VI. and his two royal sisters, a man who was a familiar figure in the City, and who after his decease was judged to be sufficiently prominent and famous to become the hero of a story-book and a character in a play. We refer of course to William Hobson, whom Thomas Heywood, writer of several of the City pageants, has introduced among the dramatis persona of his " Troubles of Queen Elizabeth," 1605. Two years later, a pamphleteer, in search of material for a fugitive brochure, published the Pleasant- Conceits of Hobson. In the play he is depicted as a kind-hearted, charitable man, who had begun life as a haberdasher in the Poultry, and had acquired wealth, of which he made good use. Both productions, in which he is commemo- THE HABERDASHERS. rated, shew him to have been a rather eccentric character, full of quaint phrases and turns of thought, and to have kept his apprentices in good order. Heywood makes him rate one of them for squandering his master's money on pies at the Dagger in Cheap, and in guzzling at ale-houses. In i Edward VI., after the suppression of monastic and other cognate bodies, Hobson is said to have purchased the Chapel of Corpus Christi and the Virgin at the end of Cony-hope Lane (Grocers' Hall Court), annexed since 1394 to St. Mildred's in the Poultry, and to have built on the site a warehouse and shops, facing the street, with lodgings or chambers over them. In this chapel, according to Stow, was the seat or meeting-place of a Gild or Fraternity, which had a licence to acquire lands and tenements of the value of 2O/. a year or upward. But the brotherhood associated with it was that of the Skinners, who in their later charters were described as the Gild of Corpus Christi, and in fact received out of the sale of the chapel a yearly rent of 2s. CIVIC PAGEANTS. The Triumphs of Peace: rfjs flp^rjs rpofala, Or, The Triumphs of Peace, that celebrated the Solemnity of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Jones, Knight, at his Inauguration into the Mayoralty of London, on Monday, being the 3Oth of October, 1620. At the particular Cost and Charge of the Right Worshipfull and Ancient Society of the Haberdashers. With an Explication of the severall Shews and Devices. By John Squire. 410, 1620. At the House of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Jhones, the first Entertain- ment at the first Great Feast preparde to giue Welcome to his Owne Noble Fraternitie the Company of Haberdashers. 1620. This forms part of a volume in 8vo, by Thomas Middleton, entitled Honorable Entertainments Composdefor the Seruice of this Noble Cittie, 1621. Londons lus Honorarium. Exprest in sundry Triumphs, pageants, and shewes : At the Initiation or Entrance of the Right Honourable George Whitmore, into the Maioralty. ... All the charge and expence of the laborious proiects and obiects, both by Water and Land, being the sole vndertaking of the Right Worshipfull the society of the Habber-dashers. By Thomas Heywood. 4to, 1631. Londini Artium et Scientiarum Origo : London's Fountain of Arts and Sciences ; expressed in sundry Triumphs, Pageants and Shews, at the Initiation of the Right Honourable Nich. Raynton, in the Majoralty of the famous and far- renowned City of London. All the Charge and Expense of the Laborious Projects both by Sea and Land, being the sole Undertaking and Charge of the Right Worshipfull Company of Haberdashers. Written by Thomas Heywood. 4to, 1632. Londini Speculum : or, London's Mirror, expresst in sundry Triumphs, Pageants, and Shewes, at the Initiation of the Right Honorable Richard Fenn, into the Maioralty. ... All the Charge and Expence . . . being the sole under- taking of the Right Worshipful Company of the Habberdashers. By Thomas Heywood. 4to, 1637. 2Q2 THE GREAT COMPANIES. London's Triumphs: Celebrated the 29th of October, 1664 ; in Honour of the truly Deserver of Honour, Sir John Lawrence, Knight, Lord Maior of the Honourable City of London ; and performed at the Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. Written by John Tatham, Gent. 4to, 1664. The Triumphs Of London. For the Inauguration of the Right Honourable Sir Richard Levett, K* Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing A De- scription of the Pageants, together with the Public Speeches, and the whole Solemnity of the Day. Performed on Monday the 3oth Day of October, Anno 1699. All set forth at the proper Cost and Charge of the Honourable Company of Haberdashers. Published by Authority. [By Elkanah Settle.] Folio, 1699. TOe Walters, THE universal practice of fasting, which prevailed in our country in Popish times, not only in Lent, but on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on special occasions fixed either by the Church or the Government, assisted in rendering the vocation of a Salter a very busy and profitable one. But he also derived much advantage from the indispensable storage of winter provision and from the constant and large demand for salted victual for the Navy and Merchant Services. The consump- tion of salt fish in former days was unquestionably enormous ; and where our vessels of all kinds occupied in their passage from place to place an infinitely longer period, and victualling stations or depots were scarcely known, the dependence of every class of seafarer on cured fish and meat was almost complete. It might not be rash to set back to the remotest antiquity the exist- ence of this craft as a Brotherhood in some shape or other. In the Household Expenses of Edward I. a Salter is mentioned as one of the officers of the kitchen ; and at that time it seems to have been usual to serve up the fish during Lent in the form of bread or loaves. Salmon, herring, sturgeon, eels, are named among the sorts so treated. This THE SALTERS. 293 description of viand was placed on the table at breakfast as well as at dinner in the houses of the nobility ; and its exclusive use throughout the country at stated seasons supplies us with an estimate of the aggregate sale of the article. The Salters obtained a patent, 37 Edward III., granting them, in common with the members of the trade elsewhere, certain liberties ; and in the following year the London Fraternity itself received letters of protection. According to the official return, they sent members to re- present them on the Common Council in 1376. In 1394 they had the grant of a Livery from Richard II., with the confirmation of his grand- father's patent ; and in 3 and 24 Henry VI., and 3 Edward IV., their privileges were again renewed by inspexinms. The instrument of 1 394 is of this importance and interest, that it shews the Fraternity to have been then known as established and existing under the name of the Brotherhood of Corpus Christi in All Hallows, Bread Street. It happened in 1454, previously to this last concession, that under the will of Thomas Beamond, Citizen and Salter, and sometime Sheriff of London, he left to the Wardens of the Brotherhood and their successors in perpetuity land in Bread Street, on which stood at tha time the Hall of the said Gild and other property, of the proceeds of which some were to be applied to the repair or restoration of the said premises, and part to superstitious and charitable uses in connection with the Salters. There was a suit at law at some subsequent date to establish that Beamond intended the religious body to be benefited by his dispositions ; but judgment was given that the Gild of Corpus Christi and the Salters were one and the same. At the Dissolution of religious houses under Henry VIII. there was the usual surrender to the Crown or its nominees of all the property held to superstitious uses, according to the language of the time ; and this escheat was followed by the redemption of such possessions at a con- siderable price. Whoever was actually responsible for these proceedings was responsible for an act of sheer robbery and fraud. In the first of Elizabeth, July 20, 1558, the Salters obtained en- larged powers, including a licence to hold and grant real property, and to exercise the right of search within the Freedom, and were con- stituted a body corporate and public, and one perpetual commonalty, with two Wardens on the same footing as other bodies corporate within the City ; and in 2 James I. all existing rights and privileges were acknowledged by inspeximus, and for the first time the Executive is amplified by the appointment, in addition to the two Wardens, of a Master and twenty-four Assistants. The charter, which may be treated as the earliest complete institution of the Company, nominated the 294 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Master, Wardens, and Court, and fixed the elections thereafter for the Monday sevennight following Trinity Sunday, vesting the function in the Livery ; the Assistants were to hold their places for life, unless they were removed on some reasonable ground. The Salters contributed to the purchase of the Irish Plantation in 1613, and are one of the few Companies which still keep their interest They have laid out large sums in improvements since 1853, when a ninety-nine years' lease of the whole, granted by them, expired. In 1876 they acquired the Saddlers' share for 33,ooo/., and in 1879 the Dyers', for 5O,ooo/., both amounts payable by instalment over fifteen or twenty years. In 1620, some controversy having arisen respecting property held by the Company in the City, owing to alterations or misdescriptions of names and particulars, letters patent were purchased for 6oo/. from James L, vesting all such estate in the Master, Wardens, and other governors, the title notwithstanding, to be held by them and their successors for ever in free burgage. As early as 6 Henry V. (1418) the Court of Aldermen ordained that two Salters, who had purchased salt within the City bounds, should sell it at cost price for the common good. This was a species of benevolence in kind akin to those which the Crown exacted in money. But as one at least of the parties involved was a prominent and rich man, the pro- ceeding was possibly a matter of mutual understanding at some moment of scarcity. The Salters, however, shared the fate of the other Gilds in having to contend against the arbitrary exercise of authority on the part of the Crown and its dependents. In 1611 Sir George Bruce obtained a patent for the manufacture of White Salt to supply Lynn, Boston, and Kingston-upon-Hull on better terms than former holders, and he re- presented that he was employing 1,000 hands in the business. The Company was consulted, and delivered their certificate ; but it does not appear what was its purport. Such, with the exception of a charter of James II. (1684-5), which temporarily abridged the franchises and powers of the Salters, but was revoked by the Act of William and Mary, is the brief history of this Gild in its relationship to the Crown during two centuries and a half. Three sets of Ordinances are said to have been framed by the Salters prior to 1507, namely: (i) Ordinances of the Salters; (2) Ordinances between the Masters and Servants of the Mistery of Salters ; (3) Ordi- nances of the Salters and Tallow Chandlers ; (4) Ordinances of the Salters (7 Edward IV.). In 1507 a fifth set of Articles was approved by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, and the two Chief Justices, THE SALTERS. 295 in which the Company is described as the Wardens and Fellowship of the mistery and craft of Salters in the City of London, and Keepers of the Fraternity of Corpus Christi in the Church of All Hallows, Bread Street. James I., by his charter in the second year of his reign, permitted the governing body to make bye-laws, provided that they were reasonable and not contrary to the laws of England — a stipulation made as far back as Henry VI., and formulated by Act of Parliament, 19 Henry VII. The Articles were again approved by the Lord Chancellor and Judges in 1676. The arms of the Company were originally granted by Thomas Benoist Clarencieux in 1530, John Cage and Christopher Webbe being then OLD ARMS. Wardens ; and the original document is preserved among the archives. The crest and supporters were added by Robert Cooke Clarencieux in 1587. In the " Heralds' Visitation of London" by Sir Henry St. George in 1634, and again in 1687, they were approved, as appears from the certificate of the Clerk of the Gild attached to the latter. Some doubt has been expressed as to the true intention and significance of the supporters, which have been variously explained and indeed drawn as otters, ounces, and lions. But there can be little question that the otter, which was with peculiar fitness associated with a body so primarily interested in fish, is at any rate the correct symbol. The particulars obtainable of the successive Halls of the Salters are sufficiently scanty and imperfect. There is not much risk in assuming 296 THE GREAT COMPANIES. that their first home or place of meeting was in Bread Street, and that in 1394, when they acquired a somewhat extended patent from Richard II., they already possessed on that spot, unless they assembled in the church itself or in the vestry, some convenience for trans- acting business and accommodating muniments. It seems, however, to be a matter of clear record that, at some date antecedent to 1454, when, as we have noted, Beamond left them the fee, the Fellowship had actually built a house independent of the church. Beamond is said to have erected on the same ground during his life the six tenements for almspeople, equally left to his brethren ; and possibly he was the founder of the Hall itself. Herbert found among the books two papers, one belonging, as it is supposed, to 1394, and containing a receipt for a game pasty at Christmas, and the other the bill of fare at a feast in 1 506, when fifty of the Company were present. In 1539 this structure was so seriously damaged by a fire, that it was found necessary to rebuild it. In the will of Sir Ambrose Nicholas, Salter and sometime Lord Mayor, another benefactor of the Gild, the second edifice is specified as " the common Hall of the said Wardens and Commonalty, called Salters' Hall in Bread Street ; " it was totally destroyed by fire in 1598. There is explicit testimony that the same site was used once more, and served the Company, until in 1641, having purchased of Captain George Smith and Catherine his wife, "the great house," called London Stone, or Oxford House, otherwise Oxford Place, through their feoffees,1 they transferred themselves in due course thither. Oxford House had been at one epoch the town inn or residence of the Priors of Tortington, in Sussex ; and in the rear were two houses, where Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley used to live, and might have once been seen in consultation in the garden, while the mansion belonged to the Earl of Oxford. Before it passed to the Smiths, Alderman Stapylton lived there. What amount of reconstruction Oxford Place underwent at the hands of its new owners, in the face of their different requirements, we do not hear. But the old Hall in Bread Street probably continued for some time to be used ; and the committee appointed to organize the trained bands of the City are mentioned as meeting there from 1641 to 1643. Even after its desertion by the Company, it preserved its former appella- tion, as we find the Judges holding sittings in the Hall so late as 1654. The building, being the fourth, in which the Company had made their seat, perished in i665, and was replaced by a small structure of brick, the ancient garden still remaining ; and finally, in 1821, the whole of the 1 The fine was paid in Hilary Term, 16 Charles I. THE SALTERS. 297 materials in situ were sold by auction to make room for a new and the present place of assembly, which was not completed till 1827. The almshouses were more recently (1863) removed to Watford. LITERARY NOTICES. A Proclamation for the maintenance and exercise of the Mines of Saltpeter, and the true making of Gunpowder. 1625. A broadside. A Proclamation for preservation of Grounds for making of Saltpeter, and to restore such grounds as are now destroyed, and to command Assistance to be given to His Maiesties Saltpeter-makers. 14 March, 1633-4. A broadside. A Draught of the Contract about Salt, on the behalf of Nicholas Murford ; also a Proposition made by Thomas Horth, Merchant, and other owners of Salt-pans at South and North Shields, and another Petition on the behalf of the Town of great Yarmouth. [1638-9.] A broadside petition to Parliament. A true Remonstrance of the state of the Salte-business, undertaken (for the furnish- ment thereof between Barwick and Pool with the lie of Wight and members inclusive) by the Societie of Salt-makers of South and North Shields, and of Scotland. [1638.] A broadside. Tracts Consisting of Observations about the Saltness of the Sea. By the Honourable Robert Boyle, F.R.S. 8vo, 1674. CIVIC PAGEANT. Descensus Astraeae : The Device of a Pageant borne before M. William Web, Lord Mayor of the City of London, on the Day he took his Oath, being the 29 of October, 1591. Whereunto is annexed, a Speech delivered by one clad like a Sea Nymph, who presented a Pinnace on the Water, bravely rigged and manned, to the Lord Mayor, at the time he took Barge to go to Westminster. Done by G. Peele, Master of Arts in Oxford. 410, 1591. Reprinted in the editions of Peele. 298 THE GREAT COMPANIES. ZTbe PRESENT ARMS. THE venerable antiquity of this Craft Gild is deducible from the existence of the art of working iron, which was a legacy to us from our Roman conquerors and civilizers. The Forest of Dean, in Gloucester- shire, appears to have been one of the earliest fields of activity in this direction ; and the mineral riches of that region were discovered or EARLY ARMS (FROM STOW, 1633.) recognised by the Romans. But the London market, in the earliest times of which there is any clear and continuous record, was supplied THE IRONMONGERS. 2QQ with products in this valuable metal by the furnaces of the Wealds, which enjoyed the advantage of proximity and short water-transit, so peculiarly great in the case of heavy goods. We are aware that, later forward, there was even an attempt to soar to a higher pitch at Buxted, in Sussex, where a cannon-foundry was established, but did not prosper. The first extant direct reference to the iron trade between London and the Wealds of Sussex, Surrey and Kent is, as not unfrequently happens, the result of some exposure of an abuse ; and we have to consider -our- selves under obligations as historians to these irregularities, which so introduce to our knowledge and study features and elements of commercial life which would otherwise, perhaps, have maintained still longer and further the undisturbed tenor of their existence. According to the Liber Horn, under 1300, complaint was made in the Chamber of London to the Court of Alder- men, that the smiths of the Wealds and other merchants brought down the iron parts of cart-wheels to London of much shorter dimensions than formerly, to the great loss and scandal of the whole trade of ironmongers ; and this proceeding immediately throws light on the fact that Wardens or overseers of the Craft were then in vogue, and consisted of three persons, an Ironmonger of the Bridge, who doubtless superintended the process of unlading from ships in the Pool or at the wharves, and two of the Market, . \> who exercised surveillance over goods brought from all quarters and over the multifarious incidence of quality and measurement, purchase and sale. These officials possessed a standard rod, sealed by the Chamber, for the verification of all iron-work belonging to cart-wheels ; and the Chamber kept two duplicates of the same. We depend, as usual, on retrospective inference in our formation of an estimate of the growth of the Craft and its initiation as a Gild. We see, in the first place, that the accidental glimpse under 1300 reveals the industry in an advanced stage of development, and in possession of some kind of executive government, namely, two Wardens of the Market and (subordinated to them, as we collect from a document of 33 Henry VI.) one of London Bridge. Now, it is curious that among the eighteen Gilds fined in 1180 are two designated Gilds of Bridge, of which we may perhaps take the present to be one and the Pursers the other. But there was a great disparity in their relative importance ; for the THE GREAT COMPANIES. first paid only one mark, while the second, of which Robert Wood was Alderman, paid ten. The minor body, if our guesswork is worth anything, would be the Pursers of the Bridge, who merged in the Leathersellers. There is room for suspicion that so important a vocation, comprising a large and profitable traffic, and numbering among its followers men who rose to the highest civic honours, did not remain till the second half of the fifteenth century, the date of its first charter, destitute of some patent or grant from the Crown to protect its external interests, and to facilitate and legalize its management. In 1348 the Ironmongers sent, by virtue of a precept from the Mayor, four " good people, the wisest and most sufficient, to represent them at the Common Council. In 1376, they deputed a similar number ; and meanwhile, in 1363, they subscribed 61. iSs. 4^. toward the French war. From the middle to the latter end of this century, the Gilds or Misteries, owing to their develop- ment and local centralization, had obtained a principal share in the electoral power, and down to 1384 returned most of the officers and dignitaries of the City. In the last year of Edward III. they numbered forty-eight without any settled order of precedence. Their relative consequence and weight are ascertained by the graduated scale of repre- sentation, which varied from six to two. The Ironmongers are the thirty-fifth on the roll, and sent four councillors. These various particulars and indications combine to prove the solid position of the Ironmongers as a voluntary body under two Wardens, when, in 1464, they obtained their parent charter from Edward IV., and cause a passing surprise that they should have waited so long before they took steps to place themselves on a footing of equality with the other Fraternities ; when it is made clear by the preceding official entries that they took high rank among the misteries, and were influentially represented at the Common Council. By this instrument, in which the Gild is specified as " our well- beloved and faithful liegemen, all the freemen of the mistery and art of Ironmongers of our City of London and suburbs thereof," it was constituted in effect and name one body and one Commonalty corporate for evermore, of one Master and two Keepers or Wardens, and the Commonalty ; and Richard Flemming, Alderman and past Warden, was hereby appointed the first COMMON SEAL. Master, and Nicholas Maxhall and Robert Toke the first Wardens, with perpetual succession, a licence in mortmain to the extent of ten marks a year, the power of pleading and being impleaded, the use of a common seal, and the right of holding law- THE IRONMONGERS. 30! ful assemblies and making ordinances not prejudicial to the laws and the prerogative. Contrary to the usual practice, this Company is largely governed by bye-laws anterior to its first charter, namely, by the Articles granted in 1455, 23 Henry VI. By this code it was laid down that thirteen persons, beside the Wardens, made a quorum ; that the Yeomanry should pay their quarterages four times a year ; that persons nominated Stewards should be fined io/. for refusal; that the Wardens, once a year or oftener, should make search of weights and measures ; that persons admitted to the Livery should pay 6s. %d. for their pattern, and wear such decent apparel as the Wardens might approve, and other normal details. There were, in addition to these ordinances for the Gild at large, "The Orders of the Yeomanry;" for, as we find, the freemen were so termed in this, as well as in the Merchant Taylors' body ; and the younger sort of liverymen were similarly designated Bachelors. There was also a Capi- tulary, or set of rules for the officers of the Gild, from the Senior Warden to the Under Beadle's wife. About 1590 the Beadle is said to have under , . .. . , . ELECTION GARLAND. his care the velvet garlands em- ployed in elections and five tobacco dishes. The bye-laws were re- newed and enlarged in 1498, and supplementary clauses from time to time added. In 1456 Lancaster Herald granted "to the honourable Craft and Fellowship of the franchised men of Ironmongers of the City of London a token of arms," namely, a chevron, gules, set between three gads of steel, azure, on the chevron three swivelles of gold, with two lizards proper, encooped with gules on the helmet. The original maximum imposed on the Ironmongers' licence in mortmain had been ten marks a year, which was gradually extended to 3oo/., and under the charter of James II. was made unlimited. But the Company obtained special licences to buy lands for Betton's estate, to i,ooo/. a year value, and for Geffery's estate to a similar amount. By none of its charters has the Company acquired the right of search ; and in cases where abuses existed in the trade, it was bound to have recourse to the Court of Aldermen to take the initiative in the matter. Other of these bodies were similarly situated ; and the question was more than once raised as to the constitutional right to confer this power, insomuch that we meet with cases where our Kings, having granted a Gild the right, subsequently retracted it. But a great deal of uncer- 3O2 THE GREAT COMPANIES. tainty and irregularity prevailed on the point, and the inquisitorial func- tion, when trade became less exclusive, often led to unforeseen friction and inconvenience through the claim of one craft to exercise in such a respect a supervision over another, or where, as in one peculiar instance, authority was temporarily vested in the Haberdashers to control the Fishmongers. A curious incident, -which may be thought to reflect honourably on the Ironmongers, happened upon the occasion of the great dearth of 1 597, when an Order in Council enjoined a suspension for that year of all expenditure on civic entertainments, and the money, which such festive indulgences would have involved, was to be applicable to the relief of the poor, and to be collected by Thomas Wood and Richard Wright, Citizens and Ironmongers, on behalf of all the Companies of London. The estimation of the ranks of the Ironmongers is affected by the principle that all members of the Livery belong to the Court or governing body, from which the Master and Wardens are annually chosen. There are only therefore the Livery and the Freemen or Yeomanry. At one time women were admitted to the freedom. In 1502 the Livery is given as 25. In 1524 the Yeomanry are re- turned at 56, and in 1537 the "Freemen householders" at 59. In the official lists of 1699 and 1724 the Liverymen are stated to amount to 100 and 109. In 1882 the Freemen numbered 156, and the Livery 52-1 A reference to the municipal and other returns between 1469 and 1629 shew this body in the possession of a more than average stability of position. In the first-named year it supplied forty guards for the City gates, and in 1 502 and 1 509 appears as the eighth Company ; but in 1515 it was officially set back to its present rank as the tenth. Through the reigns of the earlier Stuarts it seems to have well main- tained its ground.2 The Yeomanry, as early as 1497, prayed the Company to be permitted to have their own executive in the shape of two Wardens, to whom they might pay eightpence a year each man for the expense of government and for a feast on the day of Corpus Christi. At what precise date the demand was conceded is not quite certain ; but the petitioners gained their object, and separate Ordinances, as well as Wardens, for them were provided. 1 According to Whitaker, the Livery in 1892 was reduced to forty-two. 2 In 1603-4 the Ironmongers were assessed at ijl. \2s. toward the reception of James I., and in. 1629 it contributed 76/. 19^. 6d. to the expenses attendant on the coronation of his son. THE IRONMONGERS. 303 The regulations for the Livery and choice of vesture were passed in the time of Edward IV., just at the time when the charter was received. The main principle was, that no change in the pattern or colour was to be made without the assent of the whole Company ; and four persons of the Livery were to accompany the Wardens to the draper's shop or to Blackwell Hall, to witness the purchase of the material. A new suit was customary every third year, and, as with the other Com- panies, the colour generally underwent a change from time to time. It is noticeable that the Chaplain's gown and hood cost 2/. 6s. gd., six or seven times as much as those of an ordinary liveryman. The earliest Ironmonger who served as Sheriff was William Dyke- man, in 1368. Sir Richard Marlow, Citizen and Ironmonger, rilled the mayoralty in 1410 and 1417. In 1442, Sir John Hatherley, Ironmonger, was Mayor. In 1566, Sir Christopher Draper, a benefactor, and in 1609, Sir Thomas Campbell or Cambell, filled the office. Of the more eminent members of the Company we may specify Robert Byfield, Sheriff in 1479, Merchant of the Staple, Richard Cham- berlain, Citizen and Ironmonger, one of the Sheriffs, a Merchant Adventurer and of the Muscovite Company, interred at St. Martin's, Ironmonger Lane, in 1562, and Sir James Campbell, Mayor in 1629, and son of Sir Thomas above-mentioned, to whom his brethren were under obligations for important charitable bequests. Of these his clerk, Edward Browne, who is known as a verse-writer and pamphleteer of the Civil War era, has left a curious account and remembrance in a little volume quoted below. The celebrated Beckford, author of Vathek, was an Ironmonger, and served the Mayoralty in 1752 ; and the Master of the Company in 1769 was John Shakespear Esquire, Alderman, and Rope-maker at Stepney, where his Walks were long famous. The Ironmongers once followed, in common with the Grocers, Fish- mongers and Carpenters, a dramatic usage at the election of their Wardens, as we may remember from a passage in Evelyn's Diary, when he was present at the banquet on the following day in 1671. On August 20, on the eve of the Council Feast — at first each fifth year, then in alternate years, and finally, in and after 1527, year by year — a Court of the whole Fellowship was called together, and proceeded to nominate a Master and six other persons, from whom the old Wardens selected two at their discretion as their successors ; and the next day, when the feast was, the old Wardens crowned the new with garlands. The re-election of the Wardens for a second term of office was in 1527 left to the pleasure of the Master. The practice and solemnity were formerly picturesque enough. At the dinner, the old Wardens at a given juncture rose and left the room, and 304 THE GREAT COMPANIES. shortly returned, with the Beadle bearing the garlands for the new officers, and minstrels playing before them ; and, making obeisance to the Master, the Wardens delivered to him the garlands, that he might place them on the heads of certain there present, esteemed by him the most worshipful. The coronation of the Master and Wardens elect then followed. The Ironmongers have suffered this custom to fall into desuetude. The law of analogy warrants an hypothesis, if not a conclusion, that the Ironmongers sheltered themselves, agreeably to the usage and feel- ing of primitive times, under the protection of St. Martin's, Ironmonger Lane, while they yet remained a voluntary Society of Corpus Christi, and possibly met in the church or church-house, before they acquired a residence there or elsewhere. The first recorded obit performed on behalf of a member belongs to 1511, however ; and in 1479 the Company was already in its quarters in Fenchurch Street, which it may have made a special exertion to acquire upon incorporation thirty years previous. The most ancient seat of the Ironmongers was by general allowance in the lane leading out of West-Cheap or Cheapside, which still retains its proprietary name ; and the adjoining churches of St. Olave, Old Jewry, and St. Martin, Ironmonger Lane, received the ashes of many of the early members of the Fraternity from the reign of Edward III. to that of James I. ; long prior to which latter epoch, however, the settle- ment of the trade had been removed to the neighbourhood of the river, and its place of assembly and business was on the existing site in Fenchurch Street, in the parish of All Hallows Staining. The original colony in Ironmonger Lane, beneath the shadow of St. Martin's, necessarily rendered that precinct, during its lengthened tenancy, busy, populous and noisy, and involved the possession by those of the Craft of an extensive area for their warehouses, yards, and shops, where they kept the stock of manufactured goods brought from the foundries, and sold them by retail and wholesale. It was much the same with them as with the Soap-makers in Sopers' Lane opposite. As space in the City became more in demand, and the observance of order in the streets grew stricter, they found it convenient to emigrate riverward, where accommodation was more ample, and cartage was saved. The most ancient indication of the present site of the Hall is a grant to Richard Attemerke in 1344 by Robert de Kent, Citizen and Horse- merchant of London, and Felicia his wife, daughter and heiress of John Rosemound, Citizen, of a vacant plot of ground surrounded by their tenements, with a certain part of a certain great gate and a solar built THE IRONMONGERS. 305 thereon, opposite the highway of Aldgate Street, on the south side, in the parish of All Saints, Staining. These premises passed through several hands before, on the 2Oth October, 1457, under the will of Alice Stiuard, widow, her executors sold the property, with all its appur- tenances, to Richard Flemming and others, Citizens and Ironmongers of London. One of the earliest steps taken after the purchase was the acquisition of the exemplification of arms from Lancaster Herald ; and another call on the corporate funds was the repair of the premises, which became of course a chronic source of outlay, as well, perhaps, as their adaptation to the wants of the new proprietors. The first allusion to a Hall in the parish of All Hallows, Staining, is due, curiously enough, like our first knowledge of the Gild itself, to a matter in dispute. In this case it was a claim for church-dues made upon the Company in respect of their Hall, and after some litigation eventually compromised. It was prior to 1481, seventeen years after the insertion in their charter of a licence in mortmain, that the Company came into posses- sion, by what means or under what circumstances is not stated, of the Manor of Norwood in Middlesex, once appurtenant to the See of Rochester, but formerly attached to the Primate's Manor of Hayes ; and in the year cited the Master of the Ironmongers held his first Court there. This manorial property, which is a peculiar feature in the annals of a Livery Gild, had been granted by the Bishop of Rochester in 1241 to Matthew de la Wike in fee farm ; and then and in later records it is valued at seven marks a year, so that it probably, even in 1481, fell within the powers of the Company under their charter. The scantiest particulars exist on this, which might have formed a very interesting point ; and we merely possess a list of feoffees, members of the Com- pany, who held the estate on its behalf, down to 1580 or thereabout, when it was alienated to Lord Dacre. Ironmongers' Hall, as it stood in the Tudor era, occupying the entire area between Fenchurch and Leadenhall Streets with the exception of a few tenements with a frontage to the former, ultimately added by gift, was entered on the Leadenhall side by a gate-house surmounted by a little chamber or solar. The pile was quadrangular, and it contained the large refectory, roofed with lead, with a wooden floor strown with rushes and a wainscot dado ; a little gallery ; a court chamber, partly hung with tapestry and wainscoted ; a stone parlour, a parlour, the counting- house, the great and little garret, the kitchen with a paved entrance, the buttery, the larder, the armoury, and the yard leading to the garden. In the counting-house the books were kept, and oaths were admin- C.c. 20 306 THE GREAT COMPANIES. istered. The smaller garret formed a receptacle for the priest's vest- ments and other canonical requisites. It was apparently the Chaplain's room. In the inventory of 1556 we find the following articles specified as part of the furniture and contents : a suit of vestments of cloth of gold, a hearse-cloth or pall of gold in a box, another of black worsted with a white cross of Bruges satin, six dozen of wooden trenchers, a book on which to administer oaths, a dozen silver spoons with lions, weight 16 oz., the gift of Mr. Downs ; six cushions of green sey, or silk, with feathers ; two great carpets for the two tables, of tapestry work, one lined ; two pieces of tapestry that hang at one end of the court of entry, a small carpet of tapestry for the window. This is a modest stock enough, and seems, among other points, to imply that the collection of plate had not been recovered or redeemed at this time. In 1578 the Company formed the project for a new Hall, which was finished in 1587 at an initial cost of nearly 6oo/. This did not possibly encroach much, if at all, on the garden, which was maintained, as the accounts shew, with great care. The ordinary working gardener had 8d. a day for his wages, and the Company found all that was necessary. We perceive that this plot, stretching behind Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch Street, was planted THE HALL ABOUT 1560. with roses, vines, lavender, marjoram, rose- it is the building marked TO- mary, camomile, and pinks, and that a certain portion was in lawn ; for in 1610 there is mention of mowing the grass and cutting the hedges. In 1656 a penalty was payable by any one drying clothes in the garden. For the new Hall the Company gradually bought fresh furniture and other appointments ; and we hear of an old banner with the Ironmongers arms, which had been, no doubt, in the former house ; and an inventory taken in 1643 exhibits a grand advance in all branches of useful and ornamental effects, including a very respectable assemblage of plate, though whether it was the original or a new collection we cannot say. One " ale-pot," presumably of silver, purports, however, to have been a prize in a lottery. But all these lists are open to the suspicion of being imperfect or partial, as others of or about the same period disclose an armoury, an assortment of fine table-linen and pewter, and other symp- toms of comfort and prosperity. It is assumed, probably with correctness, that the second Hall on the Fenchurch site had its frontage on the southern, instead of the northern, THE IRONMONGERS. 307 side, and faced the street as the building does at present ; but it should be added that this course was facilitated by the bequest of Sir Christopher Draper, Mayor in 1566, who left his brethren the land on which the Elizabethan Hall was partly erected, and that the possession of the supplemental ground was an inducement to rebuild with an abuttal nearer to the river. In the days of Mary (1556) the armoury possessed seventeen back and breast plates, seventeen sets of splints, twelve gorgets, twelve swords, eleven daggers, white soldiers' coats of kersey with red crosses on them, four coats of russet frieze, corslets, skull-caps, bills, morris-pikes, and sheaves of arrows. There was an armourer to keep the articles in proper condition. His fee was 2OS. a year. DADO AT IRONMONGERS HALL. This feature of the Hall, eventually removed, was to a certain extent of a practical character in two respects : in the first place, as illustrative of metal-work, and secondly as containing the weapons and body- furniture, which members of the Fraternity might have occasion to use in ceremonial observances, in their official attendance by rotation upon the City gates, and at critical junctures. The collection of weapons and armour was calculated to equip a dozen men or so ; its scope was municipal. We shall find that the Carpenters and others founded a similar insti- tution for their own use. The 1587 dining-room is described as furnished with seven long wainscot tables, one mahogany table, six dozen leathern chairs, and five larger chairs for the Master and Wardens ; there were some portraits of benefactors on the walls ; and the windows exhibited commemorative 3O8 THE GREAT COMPANIES. coats or shields, which might have been, and indeed doubtless were, transferred from the first house of the Company in this quarter. One of the portraits in the windows was a small whole-length of Sir Christopher Draper above-mentioned. The Company's noble premises in Fenchurch Street still remain intact, and occupy a considerable area in the rear of the main thorough- fare. Fewer entertainments are now given than of old, and the Company does not possess much plate. It has nothing whatever, we believe, emblematical of the Craft. The entries in the Ironmongers' books afford many interesting illus- trations of the part taken by the Company in current public events, and in the tyrannical proceedings of the Crown for the levy of supplies for all sorts of purposes. In 1523 the Company had to deliver part of its plate as security for the speedier payment of the quota toward the sum of 2O,ooo/. peremptorily demanded by Henry from the City, and pawned the remainder, besides handing over the whole of the cash in hand, 257. 14.5-. The expenses of meeting the Queen on her entry into London in 1541 from Greenwich in their barge were nearly 9/., which may have included the refreshments taken on board : a kilderkin of ale, claret, ling, gurnets, fresh salmon, great eels, bread and cheese, and other items. In 1542 the imposing City pageant of setting the Mid- summer Watch on the Eve of St. John the Baptist cost the Gild 38^. ; and two years later some of the plate had to be again pledged to furnish ten billmen and four archers, fully provided, for the expedition to Boulogne. In 1545 4.0!, were allotted as the Ironmongers' proportionate amount for storing grain against a season of dearth. Other charges appear for repairing the Church of All Hallows, Staining ; for erecting a stand to witness the passage of Mary I. through Cheapside to her coronation in 1554; for "fetching in" of Elizabeth in 1558 ; for the expense of the " May-game" which preceded her Majesty to Greenwich ; for the cost of the Royal Exchange (75/.) ; for supplying men-at-arms and seamen for the Queen's service, at various times from 1 562, fully armed and equipped ; for contributing to ten ships of war and a pinnace for the defence of the realm (1591) ; for finding their quota of a loan of 2O,ooo/. to Elizabeth on her bond for six months (1599); and for meeting the fine of i,ooo/. levied on the City for negligence in not having discovered the murderers of John Lamb. Under 1579 occur two singular remembrances: one being a letter from the Queen herself to the Company, praying them to grant a lease of premises to William Sparke, to which they accede ; and the other, an arrangement under which two Ironmongers and two Grocers were required to station themselves from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bishopsgate THE IRONMONGERS. 309 to take note of the habits or dress of all persons passing through in the course of the day. All through the period of the Civil War, and from the Restoration to the Revolution of 1688, the fortunes of the Ironmongers were more or less chequered and dark. They had absolutely refused to participate in the advance of 2OO,ooo/. asked by Charles I. in 1640, to enable him to oppose the Parliament, but subscribed to a loan of 4O,ooo/. for the King's use. In 1665 a new form of internal impost manifests itself in the requisition to the Companies to lay up coal, between Lady-Day and Michaelmas annually, for retailing to the poor below cost price. Then in 1684 came the Quo Warranto. It would be difficult to name any device which was not put into force all round for rendering the funds of this and other like bodies little more than fiduciary, whether they chose or not, and for neutralizing any natural tendency on their part to accumulate wealth, save the actual land in fee, which did not represent immediate value. WHIFFLER. HENCHMAN. In the Preface to the present book we have pointed out how very imperfectly, on more than one account, the printed pageants represent the long series of commemorative solemnities on the occasion of the advent of members of the various Gilds to the mayoralty. Of those Shows, which fall within the time when periodical publication had become, at all events, the rule, there are records among the Companies' muniments, in many instances, where no printed copy has been yet recovered. But the idea of registering such particulars at large does not seem to have been generally adopted, and the somewhat elaborate 310 THE GREAT COMPANIES. description of the Ironmongers' spectacle for 1566, for Sir Christopher Draper, may therefore be worth noticing in detail. We start with the singular fact that the contract for supplying the twenty boats and their crews, and the music, all properly fitted and equipped, was accepted by John Candish, haberdasher, at io/. There were to be two trumpeters, a drum and a flute, eight single and eight double basses, and squibs sufficient for the time. Candish was evidently expected to attend, as two ells of sarcinet are allowed for his cassock, and los. in money for his hose, and he was to wear a silk night-cap and a scarf. The master and gunner of the foist, from which the salutes and fireworks were sent, were also dressed in sarcinet cassocks, silk night-caps, and scarves. The torches were furnished by Richard Sharpe, wax-chandler. They were an ell long, and cost 1 $s. the dozen. Richard Baker, painter-stainer, agreed at i6/. for the carpenter's and painter's work, and to have 40^. more, if necessary. The banners and streamers of course formed a prominent feature in the display and in the expense. There were two long streamers of crimson taffeta, twenty-four trumpet-banners, a banner with the Mayor's arms, another with the Queen's, and many more. Mention occurs of the apparel borrowed for the children from Thomas Giles of Lombard Street, pro- bably an upholder ; of the breakfast given to the children before the business of the day, by the good man of the Bell in Carter Lane, where they were lodged and dressed ; of the drink given to the children at the Bell in Mincing Lane ; of the subsequent erection of the pageant in the Company's Hall, and of the payment for the white staves borne by the whifHers, who cleared the way before the Show, and were frequently members of other Companies. John Tailor, master of Westminster School, accepted 4Os. for his pains and cost in sending six of his boys to take part in the procession. The Lieutenant of the Tower contributed the ordnance, ammunition, and arms, probably for a consideration. The device of the pageant was written by James Peele,1 who had 30*. as his fee. Sixteen of the junior members or bachelors of the Company attended in satin cassocks, crimson satin hoods, and furred gowns. Thirty more wore gowns furred with budge, coats or cassocks of satin or damask, 1 Probably the father of George Peele the dramatist. He is also known as the author of a work on Book-keeping, 1553, 1569. He was possibly a glover, either by trade or freedom, as he supplied seven pairs at 6d. a pair for the children. CRESSET. THE IRONMONGERS. 3! and the same hoods. Stewards were appointed, to see that all these had their breakfasts against the starting- time. The pageant was carried by porters, for whom hogsheads were placed at intervals to enable them to lay their burden down occasionally. The several members of the Company paid their proportion toward the charges, and also sent in their plate to embellish the table at the banquet. The total cost was 63 /. 1 is. 8^. LORD MAYOR'S SHOW. Wild or Greenwood Men clearing the way. In the time of Elizabeth, the vast and increasing demand for wood- fuel for domestic purposes was held to justify legislation in order to preserve for the use of the City and suburbs all timber within twenty-two miles of the metropolis, and to prohibit the erection of any new furnaces, mills, or forges inside that radius, with a special exemption of the woods of Christopher Darrell, gentleman, in the parish of Newdigate, Surrey, who had planted for the use of his own works there. Two years later, a second statute was enacted to prohibit the establishment of any new foundries, even in the Wealds, on account of the great number already thereabout, and possibly, besides, in view of the large quantities of imperfectly smelted ore, which improvements in the bloomeries gradually enabled the undertakers to re-smelt with profit No explicit account seems to be discoverable of the position and origin of the London Locksmith. The Continent, especially Antwerp, supplied us in ancient days with locks, as well as with chests of safety for treasure. But there were necessarily native craftsmen in this kind of THE GREAT COMPANIES. industry from a very remote date ; and they were in the time of the Plantagenets known as Lockyers. In a sworn inventory of goods under 1356 two of this trade appear on the inquest. The Lockyers probably formed a branch of the Ironmongers, but never attained sufficient num- bers and influence to aspire to a separate constitution. Down to a much later period, the bolt did duty for both methods of fastening doors and apartments, and strong-boxes were principally imported. The Ironmongers have practically sold their Irish estate, of which the income had recently declined. There is no doubt that delay was prejudicial in this case to realization. In the account of the Scriveners' Company some reference will be found to the sub-share taken by the latter and the misunderstanding which arose in respect of it, as in other analogous cases. The other Companies associated with the Ironmongers were the Brewers, Coopers, Pewterers, and Carpenters. As the Skinners christened their manor the manor of Pellipar from their own craft,, so the Ironmongers' estate was denominated the Manor of Lizard, from the supporters of their coat of arms, as granted by Lancaster in 1456. The reply tendered by the Ironmongers to the inquiry of the Royal Commission of 1880, under the head of Reform, was one which might have been with equal propriety made by most of the other Gilds, certainly by those possessing regular organization. The Clerk, in whose name the Report was forwarded, stated that he knew of no body of men more capable of managing the affairs of the Ironmongers' Company than the members of the Court, who consisted of naval, military, legal, and medical gentlemen, of bankers and merchants, and of persons con- nected with various businesses, many of them landed proprietors, and all qualified by their pursuits and knowledge to decide upon such matters as are brought before them. The accounts, he added, were kept in the clearest and simplest form, and there was no official routine and unne- cessary delays ; and he considered that it would be a great misfortune, if the conduct of the affairs were transferred to a public department. LITERARY NOTICES. Metallica; Or the Treatise of Metallica: briefly comprehending the Doctrine of di- verse new Metallical Inventions, but especially how to neale, melt, and worke all kinde of mettle-oares, Irons, and Steeles, with Sea-coale, Pit-coale, Earth-coale, and Brush-fewell. By Simon Sturtevant. 410, 1612. A Treatise of Metallica. But not that which was published by Mr. Simon Sturttvant upon his Patent, which is now by order cancelled and made voyd. Whereupon Privilege by Patent is granted ... to John Rovenzon Esquire for the making of Iron and other Mettals . . . 410,1613. THE IRONMONGERS. 313 Letters of Deputation, by William Elliots and Matthias Meisey of London, gentle- men, for the searching and seizure of all foreign Steel unlawfully imported. March 27, 1627. A broadside. Panzoologicomineralogia ; Or a Compleat History of Animals and Minerals. By Robert Lovell, of Corpus College, Oxford. 8vo, 1661. Dud Dudley's Metallum Martis: Or, Iron made with Pit-coale, Sea-coale, etc. I2mo, 1665. With a plate. Metallographia ; Or, An History of Metals. By John Webster, Physician and Surgeon. 4to, 1671. The Art of Metals. By A. A. Barba. Translated in 1669 by the Earl of Sandwich. 8vo, 1674. Fodinae Regales ; Or the History, Laws, and Places of the Chief Mines, and Mineral Works in England ... By Sir John Pettus. Folio, 1670. Fleta Minor. The Laws of Art and Nature. In Knowing, Judging, Assaying, Fining, Refining, and Inlarging the Bodies of Confin'd Metals. By Sir John Pettus. Folio, 1686. With engravings. An Epitaph on the death of the Vertuous Matrone, the Ladie Maioresse, late wyfe to the Right Honorable Lorde (Alexander Auenet) Lord Maior of the Citie of London. Who deceased the vii. Daie of July, 1570. By John Philip. A broad- side. An Epitaph on Sir Alexander Avenet. By the same. Entered at Stationers' Hall, July 13, 1580. The Whole Life, and Progresse of Henry Walker the Ironmonger. By John Taylor. 4to, 1642. »% It maybe observed that in Hazlitt's Collections and Notes, 1876-91, are notices of several tracts by Walker, who also wrote under the name of Mercurius Morbicus. A rare Paterne of Justice and Mercy ; Exemplified in the many Notable and Charitable Legacies of St. James Cambel Knight, Alderman of London, deceased : Worthy imitation ... By Edw. Browne. 8vo, 1642. Browne was also a member of the Ironmongers' Company, and describes himself as sometime servant and clerk to Cambel or Campbell. Time Well Spent; Or, Opus Iras et Labor Benevolentise, In Seven Bookes. By the same. 410, 1643. With portraits of the Author and his second wife. *% Book IV. contains a list of the Legacies of Sir James Cambel, who was son of Sir Thomas Campbell, Mayor in 1609. CIVIC PAGEANTS. [The Device of the Pageant borne before Sir Christopher Draper, Ironmonger, at his initiation into the Mayoralty, 29 October, 1566. At the cost of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. By James Peele.] No printed copy of this work is known ; but it appears that Peele or Pele received 30^. for it, and whereas he also supplied the Company with seven pairs of gloves for the children in the Show at 6d. a pair, he may have been of the Glover's Company. There is very little doubt that he was the father of the dramatist, who received from him his literary bent. Like that of 1590, this pageant may hereafter be found. That it was printed is established by the following entry in the Ironmongers' books : " Paide to the prynter for printing poses, speeches, and songs, that were spoken and songe by the children of y' pagent V." Whence we are entitled to infer that the tract was, in the same way as the Fishmongers' above referred to, privately printed for the Company, and perhaps only a few struck off. 314 THE GREAT COMPANIES. Camp-"bell, or the Ironmongers' Fair Field, at the installation of Sir Thomas Campbell, October 29, 1609. By Anthony Munday. 4to, 1609. Only a fragment of this pageant is at present known. Sideto-Thriambos. Or Steel and Iron Triumphing : Applauding the Advancement of Sir Sebastian Harvey, Knight, to the Dignity of Lord Mayor of London. Taking his seat in the same authority at Westminster on Thursday, being the 29th day of October, 1618. Performed in hearty love to him, and at the charges of his kind brethren, the Right Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. Devised and written by A[nthony] M[unday], Citizen and Draper of London. 410, 1618. London's Tempe; Or, The Feild of Happiness. In which Feild are planted severall Trees of Magnificence, State, and Beauty, to Celebrate the Solemnity of the Right Honourable James Campebell, at his Inauguration into the Honorable Office of Praetorship, or Maioralty of London, on Thursday the 29 of October, 1629. All the particular Inventions ... At the sole Cost, and liberall Charges of the Right Worshipfull Society of Ironmongers. By Tho. Dekker. 4to, 1629. Londini SillUS Salutis ; or, London's Harbour of Health and Happiness : Expressed in sundry Triumphs, Pageants, and Shows, at the Initiation of the Right Honour- able Christopher Clethrowe into the maioralty of the far renowned City London. All the charges and expenses of this present ovation being the sole undeitaking of the Right Worshipful Company of the Ironmongers. The 29 of October, 1635. Written by Thomas Heywood. Svo, 1635. An interesting and curious account of the negotiation with the Ironmongers' Court for the produc- tion of this show, for which Heywood and another person, named John Christmas, received i8o/. inclusive, may be found in the History of the Company by Nichol, edit. 1866, pp. 222-3. lne Company was to have 500 copies of the printed account. London's Annual Triumph: Performed on Thursday, October, 29, 1685. For the Entertainment of the Right Honourable Sir Robert Jeffreys, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. With a Description of the several Pageants, Speeches, arid Songs, made proper for the Occasion. All set forth at the proper Costs and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. Composed by Matt. Taubman. Printed and Published by Authority. 410, 1685. THE VINTNERS. 315 Dintners. THE prevalent notion that the followers of certain vocations are limited in their worldly aims to an exceptional extent by the sordid desire of gain, and by the life-long endeavour to conduct a profitable traffic to the vital detriment of the community, has its chief seat of strength in those businesses which concern the sale of liquors of an intoxicating nature ; and this circumstance may be possibly attributable to the survival among us of Puritan traditions and prejudices, coupled with the inevit- able liability of an abuse of stimulants to become a public scandal and a statutory offence. Many misdemeanours and vices of a far graver character have failed to attract the same amount of general notice, or to receive an equal degree of juridical attention, owing to the fact that they fail to come within the official cognisance of the local or other govern- ment of the country. A man may not expose himself in a state of inebriation in the Queen's high-way ; but he may within certain (and very wide) bounds do much worse things in his own house. The sin of drunkenness is, no doubt, a social crime also ; and it is that alike whether it is committed in view of others or in private, except from two points of view — the mischievous example and the unhappy conse- quences. The legitimate application of drink, however, is vastly in excess of its misuse; and the injury likely to accrue from its suppression must be regarded as infinitely greater, even if we keep the want of equity out of sight, than any benefit which could possibly be received under existing social and sanitary conditions. Not merely is it the case that those who have been, and are, engaged in the liquor-traffic suffer from unjust and untrue criticism as regards the political and moral bearings of their occupation ; for we find by looking into ancient records that, among the authors of philanthropic 1 See a volume entitled : The Vintners' Company, their Muniments, Plate, and Eminent Members, with some Account of the Ward of Vintry. Revised and Edited by Thomas Milbourn, Architect. 4to, 1888. With Illustrations. The matter represents an enlarged text of Papers originally read by three or four gentlemen before the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. 3l6 THE GREAT COMPANIES. benefactions from remote times, the men who have devoted their lives to this industry and merchandise may claim a distinguished rank ; nor ought we to overlook the fact that their wealth has contributed during centuries, as it does still to-day, to support and cherish that very Church which is so loud in its condemnation of the brewer, the wine-merchant, and the publican — so loud in its condemnation, because it happens to be its cue to see only one side of the question. For otherwise, of course, no amount of money bestowed on alms for ecclesiastical purposes could atone for the evils of intemperance. But every one, who desires to enjoy the reputation of possessing average intelligence, should be willing to allow that society at large is not to be brought down to the standard of the fool or the sot, and that because a proportion of the people cannot restrain their desires, the whole world is not to be debarred from reason- able indulgence and tonic repair, any more than we are to cease to eat grapes because one or two folks have been choked with a grape-stone. The trades which at present interest themselves in the importation or manufacture of liquors of various kinds, with all the accessory appliances requisite for their sale and use, have in some cases descended from antiquity, and possess historical records and traditions, while others are of modern growth and of a different constitution. The changes of taste or the progress of science have rendered a few obsolete. We hear no longer of the Homers, who used to be associated with the Bottle-makers, nor of the Pewterers, nor of the Shivers, who carried on for a short time the business of supplying the wine and beer trades with wooden bungs. But, on the other hand, a gigantic unincorporated commerce has arisen by the immense development of the spirit industry, especially in whisky, and by the call for a numerous assortment of miscellaneous beverages, of which the two most important are, perhaps, cider and perry — drinks formerly made on the farm or in the kitchen for domestic consumption. Our ancestors, however, almost exclusively applied their attention to the shipment of wine from abroad and to the production of ale and beer ; and we find, as a consequence, that the persons engaged in these callings were the first to seek from the Crown security and encouragement. It was absolutely essential in former times for all who aimed at conducting mercantile transactions with safety and profit to shelter themselves under royal protection, and to forestall competitors. Monopolies were gener- ally recognised, and the prize was to the highest, or at all events to the earliest, bidder. In the same manner as the vassals of a powerful baron grouped themselves round their lord's castle, and looked to him for succour in the hour of need, so the members of a trading fraternity procured their charter, which guaranteed them immunities and privileges, and defined their powers. THE VINTNERS. 317 These corporations multiplied, and into their number gradually entered some which were connected, directly or indirectly, with the liquor-business. The Vintners, or, to follow the earlier and more correct orthography, Vintonners, took the lead. Their origin is so ancient as to be involved in considerable obscurity ; they formed a large and influential body long before they were formally recognised by letters patent of 37 Edward III. (July 15, 1364), followed by an inspeximus of the same, 6 Henry VI., November 8th, 1427, and J OLD ARMS. they eventually became one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies. It was perhaps fit that the Gild which trafficked in the most dignified and costly sort of drink should take precedence over the rest. This Patent forbad any to trade for wine to Gascony, except such as were enfranchised of the craft of Vintners, and obliged the Gascons, when they imported their wines, to sell them in gross, so as to exclude retailers. It conferred on the Company the right of search over the trade, and four persons were to be annually presented to the Lord Mayor of London or his deputy for approval, and to take the oath, in order to discharge this duty, such being no keepers of taverns. These officials were invested with full discretionary power to see that dealers conformed to the law in respect to measures, prices, and other particulars, and to provide for the punishment of defaulters. Stow tells us that the wine measures employed in old times were the gallon, pottle, quart, and pint.1 The vintner did not by any means invariably dispose of his wines absolutely, but consigned them to a taverner or tavern-keeper on sale. This appears in various extant transactions from the fourteenth century. A tavern at the head of London Bridge, in the parish of St. Olave, Southwark, was let by Thomas Drinkwater, a taverner, to James Beau- fleur, Citizen and Vintner, mainly with a view to the retailing by Drink- water of the wines of the other party, and the rendering of a proper account from time to time by the vendor. Twenty shillings were allowed for the gown of Drinkwater ; but he was expected to find necessary furniture and drinking vessels, as hanaps of silver and wood. The regulations for the delivery, taxation, and sale of wine in London naturally preceded the existence of any systematic organization for the control of those engaged in the industry, and the protection of the rights 1 That is to say, for retail transactions. The pipe, tun, and hogshead (oxhide) were employed for shipments and for sales in gross. 31 8 THE GREAT COMPANIES. of the Crown and the interests of the community. In 1257 the King claimed to be entitled to prisage from every ship bringing wine into the port of London, and subject to full custom of two tuns, at 40^. the tun. The earliest vestige of a Gild specially dedicated to this branch of commerce occurs in the shape of the grant of Botolph Wharf in 1282 to Henry de Kingston, for the use of the Vintners of London, at a penny rent. In 1301 there were four societies of Wine-Drawers in London: the New Meyne, or New Gathering ; the King's ; the Shipup ; and another not named. These bodies, of whose corporate history we only casually and temporarily hear, grew prominent and substantial enough to secure a charter, to which the Vintners offered strenuous opposition, but seem to have eventually merged in the general Gild and vocation. The year 1311 marked an important era in the London wine-trade ; for it witnessed the issue of a writ, whereby none but the King's butler might thenceforth value or buy wines coming by ship toward the City until the same had been unladen and warehoused, with the additional provisos, that, before they were stowed away, each tun should be marked with the gauge mark at both ends, that they should not be touched for three days, and that no wholesale dealer or grosser of wines should be a taverner, or vice versa. Parties utilizing the lees and droppings to the prejudice of health were liable to exemplary punishment. The same writ of 4 Edward II. lays down other regulations and re- commendations, and fixes the selling prices for the year at 5^/., 4<^., and $d. per gallon, according to quality. In 1342, additional regulations and restrictions were set forth by the Corporation, and these were from time to time renewed and augmented. It appears from a precept of 1351, 25 Edward III., that the mistery had become sufficiently important to send four representatives to the Common Council. In 1364 a signal example was made of a vintner who sold unwholesome wine " in deceit of the common people, in con- tempt of our lord the King," etc. ; he was compelled to drink some of the liquor, the residue being poured over him; and he was disfranchised as a member of the Craft. But at a very early date a distinction was drawn between " unsound and unwholesome wines " and those which were merely " medled " or blended. The latter was an allowable and recognised process. In 1370 the Mayor and Court of Aldermen agreed to certain regula- tions for tavern-keepers, drawn up by the Vintners, and involving wide powers of search and inspection, and considerable amercement in cases of contumacy or fraud. The tavern-keepers were supposed to proceed to the appointment of four Overseers to secure observance of these rules. THE VINTNERS. 319 Wine seems to have been a popular article in certain cases of fines inflicted on culprits. In a quarrel between the Saddlers and certain other craftsmen in 1327 twenty tuns of wine formed the penal pay- ment by the former on breach of the terms of agreement, and two years later Robert le Bret, Goldsmith, was amerced in one tun because he forsook his brethren, who had been sent on a message to the King at Windsor. The same person and another Goldsmith had to agree to lose two tuns to their fellows, if either of them was proved to have taken the initiative in any fresh dissension. Stow, speaking of the Vintry and Vintry-ward, describes it thus : — "Apart of the banke of the River of Thames, where the Merchants of Burdeaux craned J their Wines out of Lighters, and other Vessels, and there landed and made sale of them, within forty dayes after, untill the twenty-eighth of Edward the first, at which time the said Merchants complained, that they could not sell their wines, pay- ing poundage, neither hire houses or cellars to lay them in ; and it was redressed by vertue of the King's Writ, directed to the Maior and Sherriffes of London, dated at Carlaveroke or Carlile. Since the which time many faire and large houses (with Vaults and Cellars for stowage of Wines, and lodging of Burdeaux Merchants) have been builded in place where beforetime were Cooks houses : for Fitzstephen in the reign of Henry the second, writeth, that upon the Rivers side, betweene the Wine in ships, and the Wine to be sold in Tavernes, was a common Cookes Row, &c., as in another place I have set down whereby it appears, that in those daies, (and till of late time) every man lived according to his owne professed Trade, not any one interrupt- ing another. The Cookes dressed meat, and sold no wine ; and the Taverner sold wine, but dressed no meat for sale. . . ." Referring to Galley Quay, he proceeds to state that the Gallies of Italy and other parts did there discharge their wines and merchandises brought to this city ; and in like manner, in course of time, he adds, that the merchants of Bordeaux built at the Vintry tenements for their use, made of stones brought from Caen in Normandy, which soon presented a worn appearance, and needed constant repair ; and when the place was no longer required for the original purpose, the premises became dilapidated, and were let out to other tenants. Stow's Continuator, in speaking 2 of the growth of luxury after the accession of the Stuarts, observes : — " In the time of Henry the eight, and Edward the sixt, Vinteners and Tauernors houses were not in any such measure, manner, nor plentious store and variety of wines of all Nations in any one mans house, as now at this time, there is in every vinteners house, for in those dayes whosoever drew White, Clarret, and red Wine, sould no more kindes of Wine. The Dutch then sold onely renish wine, as now they doe, and at that time, when an Argosey came with Greeke, and Spanish Wines, viz. Muscadell, Malmsey, Sacke, and Bastard, the Apothecaries of Londun then went vnto those 1 The Three-Craned Wharf stood here, and near at hand was the printing-office of William Copland, whose imprint cites his address. 2 Annals, 1615, p. 867. 32O THE GREAT COMPANIES. marchants, and euery man bought such Rundlets, vessels, and quantities of those rich Wines, as they thought they should retayle in the citty, vnto such as vsually bought of them only for phisicke, and for the communion Table, and for speciall countrey chapmen that dwelled in Citties, or speciall good Townes." The Company was not formally incorporated till 15 Henry VI., August, 23, 1437, when it received the ordinary privileges and endow- ments as to perpetual succession, the right of using a common seal, and of pleading and being impleaded in all courts, the title to appoint a governing body of four Masters or Wardens, and a licence in mortmain to the extent of 2O/. a year. The style of the Gild was, The Freemen of the Mistery of Vintners of the City of London. The licence in mortmain was somewhat differently framed from those conceded to the other bodies ; for it was limited to the City of London and the suburbs thereof, and the lands or other hereditaments were to be held of the Crown as well for the support of the poor of the com- monalty as for the celebration of prayers for the King, his ancestors, and successors, and for the men of the said mistery and all the faithful deceased. It is further noticeable that merely Wardens are mentioned, and no person clothed with authority over them. This instrument was confirmed and renewed by inspeximus of 24 Henry VII., October 2. But a grant of arms had been made by Clarencieux, King-of-Arms, in 1447, and was certified in 1530 and 1634. The Act 7 Edward VL, March I, embodied a series of very stringent and injurious provisions in regard to the sale of wine in London by re- tail under any circumstances whatever ; and the Vintners immediately after the death of the King, which shortly followed, approached the Government of Mary with a prayer for a special exemption in their favour from the operation of the statute. They obtained three successive patents from the Queen between 1553 and 1555, enabling them to con- duct their business as heretofore. But the Company appears to have laboured for some time under considerable disadvantages, and to have suffered a lengthened interference with their franchise, as the patent of Philip and Mary emphatically refers to criminal informations, bills, and suits as commenced against the Gild corporately or individually, and to forfeitures, penalties, and losses as either incurred or imminently hazarded. So much was this the case, that it was deemed expedient to apply for a new charter, which was granted in a most copious and elaborate form, July 30, 1558 (5 & 6 Philip and Mary). The main feature in this grant was the re-incorporation of the Vintners of London proper as a separate mistery, which must be supposed to THE VINTNERS. 32! signify an exclusion of the suburbs, as well as of the provinces, and the enlargement of the licence in mortmain from 2o/. to 4O/. a year ; and we perceive that a Master and tJiree Wardens are named for the first time. The Vintners' charter was renewed by Elizabeth in 1567 and 1577, by James I. in 1603 and 1619, and by James II. in 1685. The last varied in certain particulars from the preceding, and was not only de- clared void by the Statute 2 William and Mary, but was revoked by James himself, when he found it judicious to disarm the resentment of the City. By the earlier charter of Elizabeth liberty to possess a Hall was first accorded ; and in the later charter, the widow of a Vintner, if she re- married within the Freedom of London, or the wife, apprentice, or servant of a Vintner or his widow, was entitled to keep a tavern for the sale of wines. In the preamble of the second charter of Elizabeth there is a curious reference to the right of every one to pursue such lawful calling, whereby he may gain his living, as is most agreeable to his choice or taste. There are bye-laws drawn up by the Company, and approved by the Primate and others, of 1507, 1581, 1594, and 1607. In 1829 the Court devised a supplementary ordinance for removing from the Freedom any member who allowed the sale of wines, by retail or otherwise, on his premises by a person who was not free, or not the widow or apprentice of a Vintner ; which seems to exclude ordinary servants. The bye-laws of the Vintners emulate their charters in length and prolixity, and testify to the troublesome and disorderly incidence of the industry, no less than the multifarious detail connected with it. One of the provisions, under which a free Vintner held his house, was, that he should not sanction or connive at any bawdry on the pre- mises, and should enforce good and honest conversation by frequenters thereof. By 19 Elizabeth a special charter had been granted to the Company, empowering any free Vintner to sell wines ; and this faculty was renewed and enlarged by her successor. It transpired, in a case which came before the courts in February 1888, that the privilege was exercised only by about fifty out of 450 members of the Gild ; and while the later charter of James I. laid down the principle that the law was to be con- strued liberally, it lent no countenance to delegation by a Vintner to any third party, or to any colourable pretext, by which the trade was carried on under exemption from licence by a person purporting to be the servant of a Vintner. Nor does the law recognise dispensation with a certificate, except in such places and under such conditions as come c.c. 21 322 THE GREAT COMPANIES. within the meaning of the Company's charter, or the immunity of free Vintners from any statutory enactment not directly overriding the terms of their grant ; since it is not agreeable to the spirit of the law that a prescriptive title, which favours a limited section of the community, should be strained or extended beyond its express provisions. The privilege or exemption was, and is, narrowed in fact to the lines of the old highways to and from leading ports, and is not a general inland franchise. It may be presumed, — in face of a continuous series of royal and parliamentary enactments controlling the sale and price of wines, — that the authority and function of the Company were merely administrative, and that at most it had power to make bye-laws for the guidance and protection of the Trade. What is known as the " Wine Project " was one of the incidences of the Civil War, and arose from a patent or monopoly procured by sundry persons, especially Alderman Abel and Richard Kilvert. These farmed the wine business, paying to the Government 40^. per tun ; but the system did not enjoy a long duration. This is no place for discussing such a question, which can only interest us here in its relation to the jurisdiction of the Company ; doubtless the latter experienced, in common with many other institutions, a temporary deadlock from the disturbance of political tranquillity and the intro- duction of parliamentary and military power. The authority of the Vintners in early times was apt to be continually traversed and curtailed by the grants from the Crown, as a matter of requital or favouritism, of patents and monopolies to uncovenanted persons independent of the Gild. Queen Elizabeth conferred such a grant on Sir Walter Raleigh ; and from a licence issued by him ex officio in 1584 to Jeffery Bradshaw, of Bradford, Yorkshire, to keep a wine tavern, and stamped with Raleigh's name by his deputy or clerk, we learn that the price of French wines wholesale was then about I2/. a tun, and the retail price \6d. a gallon, and that sack, malmsey, and other sweet sorts were 8/. the butt or pipe, and about 2s. the gallon. From time immemorial, the Vintners enjoyed the exclusive right of loading and landing, rolling, pitching, and turning all wines and spirits imported into or exported from the City of London and all places within three miles of the same. The Company employed its own tackle-porters, and held itself answerable for their defaults. But modern legislation has gradually reduced this system and privilege to a nullity. The governing body is composed of a Master, Upper Warden, Renter Warden, Swan Warden, twelve past Masters, and two other members. The Swan Warden has under his charge, in concert with the Dyers' Company, a certain proportion of the swans on the Thames. Thirteen THE VINTNERS. 323 constitute a quorum. Of the aggregate total of 450 members about one moiety is on the Livery.1 During the ten years 1870-80 the income seems to have had a pre- vailing tendency to exceed the expenditure ! A large sum is annually laid out on entertainments, and about the same amount on charitable objects outside the trusts. There had not then manifested itself a very strong feeling in the direction of applying surplus funds to educational and benevolent purposes ; but the movement shewed symptoms of commencing vitality ; and in the hands of a capable Executive this Association would doubtless prove itself worthy of its municipal rank and obligations. So early as 1357, Sir John Stody, a member of the Fraternity, then un- incorporated, left the Vintry and its appurtenances, comprising Stody's Lane, to his brethren, and thus afforded them the opportunity of securing on easy terms the site for a residence and place of business. It was, no doubt, there that the earliest house or Hall stood ; but whether it was an old structure or a new one, we do not hear. On Nov. 7, 1446, Guy Shuldham devised to them part of his lands in the parishes of St. Martin's in the Vintry and St. James, Garlick-Hithe, subject to a rent of 5/. a year to superstitious uses inherited from a former owner, his immediate predecessor, John Micole or Michel ; and Shuldham charged the property with a further payment of 6s. %d. a year to like uses, re- quiring the Vintners to maintain thirteen almshouses 2 in proper repair and to appropriate them to thirteen poor of the commonalty rent-free for ever. This second gift led to the determination to erect a new Hall, with the almshouses on the Stody and Shuldham sites, so peculiarly convenient in the case of a body whose functions were so intimately and constantly identified with the water-side ; and the block of buildings then con- structed, and perhaps completed at intervals, exhibited a broad frontage to the Thames with a garden in the rear, and abutted to the North on Thames Street, when that thoroughfare was narrower, and had not encroached on the premises of the Gild in that direction. In 1446 the Hall is described as consisting of the refectory, parlour, counting-house, with two rooms over it, kitchen and coal-house, pantry, buttery, and a yard with a well therein. The parlour is said to be on an upper floor, and to possess a leaden roof. The yard was then a piece of waste ground, probably toward the river, and may be perhaps identified with the subsequent garden. 1 In 1892 the Livery was returned as 198. 2 These have long been removed to the Mile End Road. 324 THE GREAT COMPANIES. The formal licence to have a Hall occurs only in the charter of 1567, which, however, merely sanctioned something already long in existence ; for the licence in mortmain dated back to 1364, and it could have been requisite to vest the property in feoffees only down to that time, unless we are to understand the statutory force of acts done on the spot as so far wanting. The historian of London enumerates several freemen of the Company, who held the mayoralty from 1341 downward, especially Henry Picard, who, in 1356, entertained on the same day the Kings of England, France, Scotland, and Cyprus, and Sir John Stody, his immediate successor, and other great personages. This signal circumstance is the presumed origin of the health, drunk to this day, of Five Times Five. VINTNERS' HALL ABOUT 1650. The incident is thus narrated by Stow : — '•'Henry Picard, Vintner, Maior, 1357. In the year 1363, did in one day sump- tuously feast Edward the third, King of England, John, King of France, David, King of Scots, the King of Cipres, then all in England; Edward, Prince of Wales, with many other Noblemen, and after kept his Hall for all comers, that were willing to play at dice and hazard ; the Lady Margaret his wife kept her chamber to the same effect," etc. « The allusions to the Hall in early documents and accounts are very few ; but two curious exceptions occur in the mention under 13 Henry VII., January 10, 1497, of an official view of the premises for the purpose of assessing the fine for amortizing them pursuant to the licence; and in 1609 it was directed that a pair of stocks should be placed there for the punishment of refractory members. In 1660, shortly before the Restoration, General Monk accepted the invitation of several of the City Companies to partake of their splendid hospitality; and he attended at Vintners' Hall on April 12. An address was delivered to him "shadowing forth his illustrious virtues THE VINTNERS. 325 as the printed copy expresses it, " under the emblem of a vine," and a musical entertainment was specially prepared for the occasion. Six years later, the building, where these proceedings had taken place, was lost in the Great Fire, with the bulk of the contents ; and the Company met, first at the Hall in St. Nicholas Lane, and sub- sequently at the Fleece in Cornhill. The new Hall, erected in part on the old foundations, was not ready for occupation till April, 1671 ; and the wainscoting of the Court-room was completed only in 1676. The whole outlay was defrayed by private subscriptions. At a much later period, in 1702, Sir Samuel Dashwood, Vintner, being elected Lord Mayor at the accession of Queen Anne, gave a banquet at which her Majesty and the Court were present ; and that year's show was produced at the cost of the Fraternity. The Hall in which the Queen and her suit dined was, doubtless, that described by Hatton below, and was the third which has occupied the same precincts. The Company possesses a remarkable piece of tapestry, executed in 1466, and illustrating the history of St. Martin ; an embroidered pall or hearse- cloth, and a fine collection of Queen Anne and other plate. The oldest relic of this kind belongs to the year 1518; but from the records it is gathered that much was sold in 1545 and 1548, as well as at other times, without any note of the date. The so-called " Milkmaid Cup" seems to be only a copy of one of the numerous varieties of double cups of foreign, usually German, fabric, belonging to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Vintners used to be famous for their cellar of port. It used to be a custom at the Vintners' banquets to present each of the guests with a silver spoon beating the Company's arms.. Hatton, in his New View of London, 1708, furnishes an interesting account of the Hall, as it then existed. He tells us that it was situated on the south side of Thames Street, near Queen Street, and was a large and commodious brick edifice. The chamber, called the Hall, was paved with marble, and wainscoted with an enrichment of carved fruit and leaves, more particularly the screen at the east end, " where," he says, " the aperture into the Hall is adorned with columns, their entablature and pitched pediment ; and over acrosters are placed the figures of Bacchus between several Fames, and these between two panthers ; and there are other carved figures, as St. Martin, their patron, and the cripple, . . . there are also other embellishments of several coats of arms, etc." The present aspect of the Hall and premises is strll very striking, and except that some of the decorations of the wainscot have been repaired or renewed, and modern stained glass windows introduced (including an 326 THE GREAT COMPANIES. additional one), and that on a portion of the old garden a spacious smoking-room has been built, the place is substantially much the same as it was in Hatton's time. There are persons living who remember the mulberry-trees which used to stand in the garden of the Vintners' premises before its absorption by Hambro' Wharf and other structures. Stow specifies the numerous gifts made to the Vintners from time to time by members of the Brotherhood ; but their charity was by no means confined to home, as the copious gifts bestowed upon all kinds of benevolent objects abundantly testify : — "In 1357, Sir John Stody, Citizen and Vintner, gave the Vintry, with Stody's Lane, and all the tenements adjoining, to the Brotherhood. " Richard Chawcer, Vintner, gave to St. Mary Aldermary Church his Tenement and Taverne, with the appurtenances, in the Re61e or Royal,1 the corner of Kirion Lane, and was there buried, 1348. " Simon Eyre, 1459, gave the Taverne, called the Cardinals Hat in Lombard Street, with a Tenement annexed on the East part of the Taverne, and a mansion behind the East Tenement, together with an Alley from Lombard Street to Cornhill with the appurtenances, all which were by him new builded toward a Brotherhood of our Lady in Saint Mary WolnotKs Church. " Richard Jacob, Vintner, gave a gift of sixteene pounds for ever, that it should be distributed to Christs Hospitall, Saint Bartholomews, Bridewell, and Saint Thomas in Southwark, forty shillings to each house yeerely : and the other eight pounds to be given to certain appointed poore Parishes in London. " He gave moreover (for so long time as two hundred yeeres should last) the summe of twenty-eight pounds yeerely. Of which portion of money, sixteene pounds was appointed for poore Prisoners, that lay imprisoned in any of the eight Prisons in and about London yeerly ; to each Prison forty shillings : as the Gatehouse, the Fleet, both the Compters of the Poultry and Wood Street, Ludgate, the Marshallsea, the Kings Bench, and the White Lion. "What remained of the over-plus of the money, was to be distributed to the poore of divers appointed Parishes. " Mistris Sibilla Jacob, widdow unto Richard Jacob, Vintener, gave unto Christs Hospitall, three pounds, and to Saint Thomas, three pounds. "Master Henry Prannel, Vintner, and Alderman of London, gave among the Hospitals the summe of 50 pounds yeerely. "Boniface Tatam of London, Vintner, buried in the Parish of Saint Peter upon Cornhill the third of February, 1606, gave 40^. yeerely to the Parson, for preaching foure Sermons every yeere, so long as the Lease of the Marmaid in Cornehill (a Taverne so called) shall endure. He gave also to the poore of the Parish thirteene penny loaves every Sunday, during the foresaid Lease. " Roger Mason, of the Parish of Saint Giles without Creplegate, Citizen and Vintner of London, gave to the poore of the freedome of this Parish, 200 pounds, wherewith an yeerely rent of 16 pounds or thereabout, is purchased for ever; to be bestowed on ten Gownes of black Cloth lined, to bee distributed yeerely upon tenne poore men of this Parish, upon All Saints day, at the discretion of the Vicar, and Churchwardens for the time being. He died the 3 day of Septemb. 1603. " 1623. Jasper Underwood, Vintener, gave 10 pounds to bee distributed. 1 This locality, so called from its selection as a quarter by the wine-trade of Bordeaux, is named in the grant of land by Sir Richard Whittington in 1411 for the rebuilding of the church of St. Michael Paternoster, near which he resided. THE VINTNERS. 327 "George Clarke, Citizen and Vintner of London, gave unto the use of the poore of the Parish of Saint Leonard's, Shoreditch, the summe of 100 marks in money. " Stephen Skidmore, Vintner, gave a gift of forty foure pounds yeerely, and ordered in this manner : " To seventeen poore Parishes in London, appointed by nomination, seventeen pounds. " To the poore of the Parish of S. Stephen in Coltman-street, twelve pence weekly in bread. " To the poore of Corke in Ireland (where it seemeth he was borne) being twelve in number, to each poore body forty shillings. " Master William Day, Vintner, gave fourescore pounds : with the which sum are to be provided twelve coates, for twelve poore mens children, for ever yeerely, and to bee distributed at the said Feast of All Saints." STONEWARE JUG (i6th Century). But the most munificent donor belonging to this ancient and honour- able Gild remains to be mentioned : — " Robert Gale, Vintner, out of his Lands lying in divers places, gave the summe of one hundred and forty pounds yeerely, to be imployed in manner following after the decease of Dorothy his wife. To six of the poorer sort of Scholars in Corptis Christi Colledge, in the University of Oxenford, usually commorant and residing in the said Coiledge, and yeerely to be chosen on the Feast day of Saint Thomas the Apostle, by George Lacocke, his heires or assignes, under his or their hand and scale : To each Scholar he gave three pounds 328 THE GREAT COMPANIES. six shillings eight pence yeerely for ever, to be paid by the said Lacocke, his heires or assignes for ever, out of his lands in Claipoole, in the County of Lincolne, and Brassington, in the County of Derby. To the poore in the towne of Chippenham in Wiltshire he gave twenty pounds. To the Preacher there, 20 shillings. To the Bailiffe and Burgesses, as a friendly remembrance, yeerely twenty shillings. To Christs Hospitall in London, twenty pounds. To the Company of Vintners, twenty pounds. To the poore in Lincolne, 20 pounds. To a Preacher there yeerely, ten shillings. To the Maior and Chamberlaine, twenty shillings. To the Minister of S. Markes Church there, ten shillings." The eminent or noteworthy members of the Company also include the names of John Adrian, Lord Mayor in 1270 and 1271 ; Reginald atte Conduit, Mayor in 1334; John de Oxenford, Taverner, Mayor in 1341 ; Henry Pickard, Mayor in 1356; Sir Samuel Dashwood, M.P., Mayor in 1702 ; Sir Gilbert Heathcote, mentioned by Pope, and said to be the Sir Andrew Freeport of the Spectator, Mayor in 1710, and the last who rode to Westminster, to be admitted, on horseback, and (above all) Benjamin Kenton, the distinguished philanthropist, in his youth a waiter at the Crown and Magpie in Aldgate, and who left 400,ooo/. LITERARY NOTICES. The Vintners' Licence to Retail Wine. 1561. Mentioned in the Coopers' Accounts as having been enrolled ; but whether printed or not is not clear. A New Boke of the natures and properties of all Wines that are commonly vsed here in England. . . . By William Turner. 8vo, 1568. The Proofe and Prayse of Wine, taken in measure and due time. Licensed for the press in 1582. A Ballad, called the Vntymely End of Master Page, a vintener in London, who was murthered by a mayde servante of his house. Entered at Stationers' Hall, September 8, 1613. A Ballad, being the second parte of the murder of Master Page by his mayd, and of her execncon by burninge in Smithfield for that fact n Septembris, 1613. Entered the same day. Wine, Beer, Ale and Tobacco, contending together for superiority. 4-to, 1629, 1630, 1658. *% In the first, edition this tract is ascribed to Gallobelgicus. A Proclamation for the Prizing of Wines. February I, 1634-5. A broadside. The same. February 21, 1636-7. A broadside. The same. February 8, 1637-8. A broadside. The Tree of Hvmane Life ; or, The Blood of the Grape. By Tobias Whitaker, M.D. i2mo, 1638, 1654. A Health to all Vintners, Beer-brewers, and Ale-tavern ers, Tapsters. . . • Constituting a Jury for the Regulating of Drinking and Drunkenness. [About 1640.] A broadside. THE VINTNERS. 329 The Petition of the Retailing Vintners of London, and their Propositions and Demaundes contrived and made amongst themselves at their Hall, in Novemb., 1637, whereby it may appear who projected the penny a Quart on Wines. [1641.] A broadside. A Trve Discovery of the Proiectors of the Wine Proiect, and of the Vintners owne orders, made at their Common-hall. 410, 1641. A Trve Eelation of the Proposing, Threatning, and Persuading the Vintners to yield to the Imposition upon Wines. 410, 1641. A Reply to a most untrue Relation made and set forth in Print, by Certaine Vintners, in excuse of their Wine Proiect. 4to, 1641. A Dialogue or Accidental Discourse betwixt Mr. Alderman Abell and Richard Kilvert,1 the two maine Proiectors for Wine, . . . contayning their first manner of their acquaintance, how they began to contrive the Patent it selfe, how they obtayned it, and who drew the patent. 410, 1641. The Same in Dutch. 410, 1641. The Last Discourse betwixt Master Abel and Master Richard Kilvert. 410, 1641. Resolutions of the House of Commons concerning the Prices of Wines, etc. May 26, 1641. A broadside. The Humble Remonstrance of the Farmers and Adventurers in the Wine-farme of fourty shillings per tun, to the honourable House of Commons. . . . 1641. A broadside. An Exact Legendary Compendiously containing the whole life of Alderman Abel, the maine Proiector and Patentee for the raising of Wines. His apprentiship with a Vintener, . . . 4to, 1641. The Copie of a Letter sent from the Roaring Boyes in Elizium to the two arrant Knights of the grape in Limbo, Alderman Abel and M. Kilvert. 410, 1641. Good Newes for all true-hearted Subjects. Videlicet, the Parliament goes on. Written by Francis Mussell, Vintner. 1641. A poetical broadside. The Prisoner's Observations by way of Complaint. Printed February 4, 1645. By the same. A poetical broadside. The Vintners' Answer to some Scandalous Pamphlets Published (as is supposed) by Richard Kilvert ; And abetted in some points by his Brother Roger, and Alderman Abel. 410, 1642. An Ordinance ... for Freeing and Dischargeing the Vintners from any Demand for, or concerning any Delinquencies, concerning the Imposition of forty shillings per Tuune on Wines or anything concerning the same, except the persons herein excepted. May 12, 1645. 4to- A Ternary of Paradoxes. By Johannes Baptista Van Helmont. Translated by W. Charleton. 4to, 1650. *% One of the paradoxes is the Nativity of Tartar in Wine. The English Rechabite; or, A Defyance to Bacchus and all his Works. By Robert Whitehall, of Merton College, Oxford. Folio [about 1660]. A Proclamation for the Publishing of an Act of Parliament late made for the better Ordering and Selling of Wines by Retail, etc. 1660. A broadside. A Proclamation concerning the Granting of Licenses for Selling and Retailing of Wines. 1661. A broadside. A Proclamation, prohibiting the Importation of divers Foreign Wines and Mer- chandizes into this Realm. 1661. A broadside. 1 Kilvert had been a proctor in the Court of Arches. 330 THE GREAT COMPANIES. A Proclamation for Prizing of Wines. February 4, 1661-2. A broadside. A Proclamation concerning Wine Licences. 1662. A broadside. The Art and Mystery of Vintners and Wine-Coopers. 8vo, 1682. A Proclamation for Prizing of Canary Wines. December 16, 1687. A broadside. A New Treatise of Artificial Wines. By W. Y.-Worth. 121110, 1690. The Britannian Magazine; or, A New Art of Making above Twenty Sorts of English Wines. By W. Y.-Worth. The Third Edition. I2mo. [About 1690.] A New Art of Making Wine, Brandy, and other Spirits, compliant to the Act of Parliament concerning Distillation. By the same. I2ino, 1691. The Search after Claret; or, a Visitation of the Vintners. In verse. By Richard Ames. 4to, 1691. Second Edition. 4to, 1691. A Further Search after Claret; or, A Second Visitation of the Vintners. 4to, 1691. The Last Search after Claret in Southwark ; or, a Visitation of the Vintners in the Mint. 410, 1691. The Bacchanalian Sessions ; or, the Contention of Liquors : with a Farewell to Wine. By R. Ames. 4to, 1693. Miscellanies over Claret ; or, The Friends to the Tavern the best Friends to Poetry. 4to, 1697-8. Four Parts. In Vino Veritas; or, A Conference betwixt Chip the Cooper, and Dash the Drawer, discovering some Secrets in the Wine-brewing Trade. 8vo, 1698. The Juice of the Grape ; or, Wine preferable to Water. . . . With a Word of Advice to the Vintners. By a Fellow of the College [of Physicians]. 8vo, 1724. The Order for Swannes both by the Statutes, and by the Auncient Orders and Customes, used within the Realme of England. 410, 1570. Several of these Books of Orders, etc. , were once in existence. There are also extant many MSS. Collections of Swan-marks for different parts. The supervision of the City swans devolves by custom on the Skinners and Dyers jointly. The Orders, Lawes, and Ancient Cvstomes of Swannes. Caused to be printed by John Witherings, Esquire, Master and Governour of the Royall game of Swans and Signets throughout England. By John D'Oyly. 4to, 1632. D'Oyly refers to older orders in print. Bacchus Festival; or, A New Medley, being A Musical Representation at the Entertainment of his Excellency the Lord General Monck at Vintners' Hall. April 12, 1660. A broadside. By T. Jordan. A Speech made to his Excellency George Monk, General, and [the Council of State] on the twelfth day of April, 1660. At a Solemn Entertainment at Vintners' Hall. Wherein his illustrous virtues are shadowed forth under the Emblem of a Vine. [By Thomas Jordan. 1660.] A broadside. Two editions the same year. THE CLOTIIWORKERS. 33! Glotbworfeers. OLD ARMS. THE parentage and foundation of this, in some respects the most important of all the Gilds of London, are to be found in our preceding account of the SHEARMEN and the FULLERS, of whom the Clothworkers were an amalgamation, as certain primitive minor Crafts already noticed had been fused at an earlier stage with those other two bodies. It may be true that the history of this Association was at one time closely interconnected with that of the Weavers ; but the rise into independent recognition and rank, not only of the Clothworkers under their original styles as Shearmen and Fullers, but the severance from them of the Drapers and Taylors demonstrates the great antiquity of this branch of the cloth trade as a distinct industrial art. This separation of the various processes and steps in manufacture was partly due to the steady and enormous development of the demand for goods employed for personal, domestic, and even decorative purposes, and to the changes which took place in the material of certain fabrics. But, of course, the period of signal prosperity for the Weavers them- selves, who were doubtless the pioneers in this direction, was when the market was free from competition, and they enjoyed the monopoly of sale to the draper and the tailor of the produce of their looms. Every reform and improvement in their Craft tended to their dis- advantage ; the community, as it became more populous and less THE GREAT COMPANIES. simple in its tastes, encouraged every novelty, which was introduced either by our countrymen or by foreigners established in London ; in the statutes framed for their relief we easily discern a trace of this com- mencing decline ; and nothing but the principle of Protection sustained archaic methods of workmanship and old-fashioned schools of design. The English, or at least the London, artisan soon discovered that, if he desired to occupy a favourable position, and to hold his ground, it was necessary for him to be an apt scholar in learning the lessons taught by our continental visitors, and to make that a starting-point for further progress. There is no doubt that, if we read aright the municipal expansion of the several departments of the woollen and linen cloth industries, we must interpret it as directly symptomatic of a parallel growth in our enterprise, skill, and success in establishing by sure degrees a machinery in our own capital, which long remained adequate to our wants and worthy of our national character. One striking piece of testimony to the independent magnitude of the Shearmen and Fullers, anterior to their embodiment as a single Gild, seems to lie in the comparatively late date of final union, inasmuch as the individual interests of two prosperous and influential Fraternities would be less readily accommodated or adjusted than those of two or more minor fellowships. The Charter of 19 Henry VIII., January 18, 1527-8, commences by rehearsing the circumstances under which Henry VII. and other sovereigns had previously accorded privileges or in- corporation to the Shear- men and Fullers respec- tively, proceeds to transfer and change the said two Gilds of Shearmen and Fullers into u the name of one Master and four War- dens of the Gild or Frater- nity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Art or Mistery of Clothworkers in the City of London," to be one Body and one Com- monalty corporate, with the power of acquiring, holding, and alienating rents and other possessions whatever, with perpetual succession and a common seal. It likewise provides for the election from time to time of the governing body, for the Livery of clothing of one suit or pattern to the brethren each year, or each alternate year, at the pleasure of the THE CLOTHWORKERS. 333 Executive ; for the exercise of a common right of search over denizens and aliens, and punishment of offenders or defaulters according to the law of England or the custom of London, in all matters pertaining to the misteries of Shearmen and Fullers, and to woollen cloths and fustians, and all other goods, used in the same ; and for the restraint of foreign workmen, not admitted to the Freedom of the Clothworkers. This large grant, which forms the groundwork of the present con- stitution, was confirmed by inspeximus of 4 & 5 Philip and Mary, June 4, 1558, and of 2 Elizabeth, July 8, 1560. Charles I. in a charter dated April 24, 1633, recites the former grants, and renews the Gild under the name of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mistery of Clothworkers of the City of London, and appoints the existing functionaries, that is to say, Thomas Byard to be the first and modern Master, and other four persons to be the first and modern Wardens, ad interim and until the period for the ordinary elections of officers, namely, the first Monday in the next ensuing August. The royal letters further released and purged the beneficiaries from any doubts or inadvertences whatever in former proceedings and acts. Charles II. by letters patent under the Great Seal, February 5, 1684-5, gave the Clothworkers a new charter, in which their privileges were considerably abridged, the king assuming a right to nominate the Assistants and Clerk, as well as the Master and Wardens ad interim as before, and to debar the governing body from entering on office, unless they took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribed to the Test and Corporation Acts. In other respects the Company was left undisturbed. The reign of James II. was short enough to prevent any protracted inconvenience and loss, and long enough to occasion a great deal of vexation and trouble. The period of more than three and a half years, between February, 1684-5 and October, 1688, when James revoked his arbitrary, intolerant, and strategic infringement of the civic rights at large, was an interval during which the Clothworkers and their con- temporaries suffered equal anxiety and discomfort. But the Revolution of 1688 permanently cleared the atmosphere. The Ordinances, commencing with those of 1531-2, approved by Sir Thomas More as Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, and the Chief Justices, followed in a certain measure those previously drawn up for the government of the Shearmen and the Fullers as separate Fraternities. They dealt, as usual, with the election of officers, the livery of clothing, the rendering of accounts, the relief of necessitous brethren and their burial, if necessary, out of the common box, with the dirges and masses 334 THE GREAT COMPANIES. to be said for their souls, the attendance of members at the obsequies of a brother in their best apparel, and the treatment of apprentices, journeymen, and foreigners. There are provisions regulating the details of work and hours of attendance, forbidding men of the mistery to play at unlawful games or resort to riotous practices, and imposing fines for misdemeanours. This Code, which is unusually lengthy, was renewed 29 Elizabeth, July 2, 1587, and 15 Charles I., April 18, 1639. It would be impossible to furnish more than an outline of the contents. But some of the rules and conditions are very curious, more particularly in respect to the con- ditions and hours of labour. In common with the Taylors, Skinners, and other Gilds, the Cloth- workers admitted sisters to the freedom ; and as the children of both succeeded to the privilege as an inheritance, the ranks of the Yeomanry, as it was generally termed, increased from time to time to such an extent that the bond between them and the Livery and Court had a natural tendency to slacken. The bulk of freemen and freewomen by birthright have consequently long ceased to exercise any control over the government ; but the Clothworkers preserve the ancient usage of permitting their Hall to be occasionally employed by the Yeomanry for their sports and recreations during good behaviour and subject to con- venience, to the extent of inviting the whole body of almsfolk to an annual feast. Provision is also made on a very liberal scale for the relief of all the poor of the Company, and even for the payment of funeral expenses. At a former period, however, the Court experienced the same kind of disposition to aggressive encroachment or self-assertion on the part of the freemen as we have had occasion to notice in other instances. A successful effort in obtaining concessions had a contagious influence ; and the Clothworkers, like the Merchant-Taylors, temporarily acquiesced in the institution of Wardens of the Yeomanry. But they were dis- continued in 1754. It is worth remarking, that one of the points of debate between the Court and the operative class was the legality of the seizure by the Wardens of ill-wrought goods ; for this entered into the very questionable power of search conferred by the majority of the charters. The disaffection to the autocratic jurisdiction of the Court and Senior Liverymen may be traced back a long way, since it furnished the subject-matter of a pamphlet (apparently a reply to another), in which the whole constitutional question is ventilated, and the pretensions of the Diffusive Body or Commonalty to a share in the control are shown to be groundless and at variance with the meaning and spirit of the charters. THE CLOTHWORKERS. 335 The present aggregate numbers of the Company may be about 500, of which the Livery represent about 150, the Court inclusive. The latter is estimated at 44 with the Master and Wardens. Every precaution is taken to secure respectability on the part of the Livery, and on that of the Executive section able and substantial persons. The general temper and feeling are emphatically tolerant and reasonable. The Company was one of the twelve contributories of 5,ooo/. toward the total of 6o,ooo/. eventually paid to the Government of James I. for the forfeited Irish estates, of which we have given particulars in several earlier places. In this instance, the Clothworkers, as proprietors in chief, found 2,260!., the remainder being found by the Butchers and five other bodies. But considerable difficulty was experienced, even under these conditions, in raising the amount. In 1610 or the following year, at the request of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, Lord Compton (ancestor of the Marquis of Northampton) contributed 2OO/. toward the Ulster Plantation " to the ease of the poor Company of Clothworkers," whereof his father-in-law, Sir John Spencer, knight, was a member and principal upholder. In 1769 the Clothworkers' Irish estate was let by public auction on a lease of sixty-one years and for three lives at a rental of 6oo/. and a fine of 28,ooo/. But it has since been sold for 1 5o,ooo/. In 1316 the Aulnage, a word derived from the old French aulne, ell, the common standard of measurement, was granted to John Peacock of canvas, linen cloth, napery, as well English as foreign, kerseys, worsted, and all kinds of cloth of Lincoln, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Stamford, Beverley, St. Osyth, Devon, and Cornwall. The cloths offered to foreign dealers in exchange for wine and other produce were found at a very early period to be not unfrequently false in dimensions, colour and substance, and fraudulently mixed with wool ; and in 13 Richard II. (1389) it was enacted that " no plain cloth, tacked or folded, shall be set to sale within the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, and Gloucester, but that they shall be opened, upon pain to forfeit them, so that the buyers may see them and know them, as it is now in the County of Essex, and that the workers, weavers and fullers shall put their seals to every cloth." The great abuses represented to Queen Elizabeth as being practised in connection with the "draping of cloth," led her Majesty in 1581, in concert with Lord Burghley, to recommend a suitable person for the post of Alnager, Searcher, or Surveyor to the City. It was an office which was created by the most ancient statutes, and was finally abolished in 1 700, ten years after the appearance of published Reasons for commuting 336 THE GREAT COMPANIES. aulnage for a custom or excise. We find John May, Deputy- Alnager, who had been a servant of the Duke of Lenox, publishing a vindication of the functionaries discharging the duty ; and a good deal of discontent and irritation was produced from time to time by this surveillance over the trade, which in its turn was attended by tyranny, espionage, and extortion. It can only be pointed out generally, that henceforth there was an almost uninterrupted series of correspondence and discussion on this subject among the parties officially or commercially interested, and that the question of the manufacture, oversight, and sale of this commodity awakened the attention of the highest legal and other authorities. The exclusive use of woollen cloth of the old-fashioned texture was discontinued in 1567 or thereabout, in consequence of the introduction of serges and other lighter fabrics, as it is held, by manufacturers at Norwich and elsewhere in the provinces. This new material, which of course tended to break the monopoly of the London Clothworkers, and of what became known by distinction as the Old Drapery, was called the New Drapery, and was probably designed for wear during the warmer season. The John May above mentioned obtained a lease from the Corpora- tion in 1612 of a site for a proposed market for the sale of strained cloths and other stuff of the New Drapery, but was hindered in carrying out his plan. Perhaps he was invested as a solatium with the office of Deputy-Alnager. The early cloth trade was divided between Yorkshire and the North of England, Shropshire and North Wales, Gloucestershire and Devon- shire. It is now almost exclusively restricted to Yorkshire and North Wales. We possess literary and other records of its flourishing condi- tion in those districts where it has ceased to be a prevailing or leading industry ; and a popular writer of the reign of Elizabeth produced a novel, of which the six great clothiers of the West are the heroes and central figures. They belonged to Reading, Gloucester, Salisbury, Worcester, Exeter, and Southampton. But three like eminent characters of the Midland and North country are also particularized in connection with Manchester, Halifax, and Kendal. Still more curiously, the Six Clothiers of the West formed the subject-matter of a drama in two parts, which was written and acted in 1601 — the only performance of the kind, perhaps, ever brought on our stage. One of the earliest symptoms of a tendency to revolt against the imposts laid on trade in the metropolis under various heads and pretences was the proposal to establish a Staple of North- Wales cottons and frieses at Chester in 1582, with liberty to export the same direct abroad ; THE CLOTHWORKERS. 337 and one ground of objection offered by the City was the loss imminent thereby to its hospitals through the failure of the charges leviable at Bakewell or Blackwell Hall, amounting by estimation to about IOO/. a year. Curiously enough, the bailiffs of Shrewsbury appear as opponents to the scheme, of which we do not hear further, save the attempt of the drapers of Shrewsbury and Oswestry to hamper the London dealers by way of reprisal in procuring their goods, as theretofore, from North Wales, agreeably to their power under the City Charter of trading with all parts of the kingdom. Our knowledge of the original Hall of the Shearmen on the east side of Mincing Lane, subsequently occupied by the united Gild, is limited to a very rough outline in the map of London published by Agas about 1560, and figured in the text. It is said that in the stained glass windows of the refectory were the arms of ten Lord Mayors and sixteen Sheriffs, who had belonged to the Fraternity; and mention oc- curs of an upper-hall window, and of parlours also embellished with stained glass. General Monk, in the early part of 1659-60, paid a series of ceremonial visits to the Halls of the principal Gilds ; he was at Clothworkers' Hall on the 1 3th of March ; and a speech or address, prepared by Thomas Jordan, the City poet, was delivered to him in the course of the enter- tainment given in his honour by the Company. Pepys notes, under September 6, 1666 : " Strange it is to see Cloth- workers' Hall on fire these three days and nights in one body of flame, it being the celler full of oyle." The London Gazette of September 8, 1666, refers to the arrest of the flames at this point In 1668, the house opposite the Hall was burnt down, but fortunately without injury to the surrounding buildings. Yet Pepys, under June 19, notes that the fire broke out at between two and three in the morning, so that the danger was all the greater. The ground-plan and frontage of the second Hall are now given, and will be found to differ very essentially from those of the building erected in 1862, on a report that the former one was insecure from the ravages of dry rot. In the rear of the demolished structure lay a large garden, with a fountain in the centre. Hatton, in his New View of London, 1708, describes it as "a noble rich building." " The Hall," he says, " is a lofty room, adorned with wains- C.c. 22 338 THE GREAT COMPANIES. cot to the ceiling, where is a curious fretwork. The screen, at the south end, is of oak, adorned with four pilasters, their entablature and com- pass pediment of the Corinthian order, enriched with their arms, palm- branches, etc. The west end is adorned with the figures of King James and King Charles I., richly carved as big as life in their robes, with regalia all gilt with gold, where is a spacious window of stained glass, and the Queen's arms ; also those of Sir John Robinson, knight and baronet, his Majesty's Lieutenant of the Tower of London, Lord Mayor of this honour- able City, anno 1663, and president of the Artillery Company, who kept his mayoralty in this Hall, in which year he entertained their majesties, the King, Queen, and Queen's mother, and their royal highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of York, ^and towards the re-edifying of this Hall a worthy bene- factor. His coat of arms, 6th and 4th gules and or quarterly em- battled, the 2nd and 3rd vert semi of trefols : a buck trippent or : and the like buck for the crest." Here were also the arms of Samuel Pepys, Master in 1677, those of Wil- liam Howard, Master in 1687, and those of Sir Joseph Williamson, principal Secretary of State, Master in 1676, all benefactors of the Company. In two small windows were the arms of the City and of the Clothworkers, the latter with the motto, My trust is in God alone. The exterior of the house had fluted brick columns with Corinthian stone capitals. TWO PLANS SHEWING THE SITE AND AREA OF THE HALL DEMOLISHED IN 1862. THE CLOTHWORKERS. 339 There are engraved representations of the exterior of the late Hall ; but the general effect does not essentially vary from that of the one now existing. Clothworkers' Hall stands on a far larger area than the block taken down in 1862, of which an appreciable part was occupied by a garden. But the mansion-house now covers the whole ground, and abuts in the rear on the Churchyard of All Hallows, Steyning. It is a spacious and splendid edifice, planned on a scale commensurate with the wealth and wants of the Company, and so far resembles it, that its modern side is principally conspicuous, although not more so than is the case with many others. Before their removal to Islington, where, as early as 1640, the Com- pany already possessed a similar endowment of the gift of John Heath, the Clothworkers' almshouses were situated in Whitefriars, on part of a garden belonging to Margaret, Countess of Kent, who held the ground under a demise from the Prior of the Friary. Among the celebrities who have belonged to the Clothworkers, may be mentioned William Lambe, a benefactor of this and other institutions, and a man of high public spirit ; he was Master in 1569-70, and died in 1580. His name survives in Lambs-Conduit Street. The Company also boasts Samuel Pepys, F.R.S. ; Sir John Spencer, ancestor of the Marquis of Northampton, and a great upholder of the Company ; James the First ; Sir Thomas Trevor, Baron of the Exchequer ; Sir John Robinson, nephew of Archbishop Laud, Lord Mayor in 1662-3, and Lieutenant of the Tower ; Sir Godfrey Webster ; the Countess of Kent, freewoman and widow ; and William Hewer of Clapham, Esquire, some- time Pepys's clerk, and like him a book-collector. But there is a long and honourable roll of generous and philanthropic members, the fruits of whose beneficence assist in enabling this excellent and noble Associa- tion to carry on its industrial and eleemosynary schemes ; and a tolerably convincing proof of the vitality of the Company, no less than of the reliance on its probity and administrative machinery, lies in the most recent trust-estate left to it — that of 7O,ooo/. under the will of Mr. Thomas William Wing, of Piccadilly, 1884 (proved in 1889) for the Relief of the Blind. In 1677 Samuel Pepys was Master of the Company, and signalized his year of office by the presentation of a Bowl and Cover of silver gilt, enriched on the exterior with frosted work, and weighing 166 ounces. His brethren also received from him a gilt ewer and bason weighing 196 ounces. Both of these memorials of him are still in the Clothworkers' possession. Pepys's and Hewer's arms used to be in the eastern window of the Hall. f \ 3-p THE CLOTHWORKERS. 34' Let us recollect, too, that no less a man than Geoffrey Chaucer, though not a member, discharged official duties in connection with the cloth and leather trades, having been appointed in 1374 Comptroller of the Subsidy of Wools, Skins, and Tanned Hides. The poet received the not inconsiderable emoluments; but in 1385 he was permitted to fulfil the functions, as well as those of the Comptrollership of the Petty Customs of the Port of London, by deputy. The relative importance of the Clothworkers was recognised by Herbert, when he wrote his work, about 1836 ; for he speaks of them as having a very large estate, out of which they annually paid to the poor i,4OO/. "It is," says he, "a rich, eminent Company." It goes almost without saying that not only these figures, but even those in the par- liamentary return of 1884, are ancient history, since the annual amount at present devoted to educational and charitable purposes does not probably fall short of 5o,ooo/., irrespectively of the New Wing Fund. Annexed are the latest statistics connected with the Company's Yorkshire College at Leeds, as furnished to us by the courtesy of Sir Owen Roberts : — Technical Education. CLOTHWORKERS' COMPANY. Yorkshire College, Leeds — \ Textile Industries, Dyeing and Art ( Departments wholly Founded and f Maintained by the Company j Bradford Technical College Huddersfield Technical School Halifax „ „ . Keighley „ „ . Devvsbury „ „ . . Salt Science, Art and Technical Schools, Shipley ...... Bingley Technical School Ossett ,, „ . Morley „ „ . . . . Wakefield „ „ Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Insti- tutes— (583/. los. Contributed to Technical Prize Fund. Grants of Books to Village Library of Value of 140/0 University College, Bristol — (Grants from 1876 to 1886 = 3,700/0 Trowbridge, Wilts, Technical School Glasgow Technical School — (Grants from 1878 to 1884=1,050/0 Annual Subscriptions for Maintenance. Building Equipment. ,£2,000 £30,000 500 4,100 300 2,000 Not Settled 2,000 150 50 1,300 800 100 50 350 20 200 20 — IOO 25 IOO 1,000 — 105 50 2OO 342 THE GREAT COMPANIES. City and Gilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education 4,ooo/. per annum. Special Donations to Building and Equipment . . . . I2,ooo/. „ Total Grants to City and Gilds of London Institute to 31 December, 1891, 57,6oo/. The Clothworkers' Company expend on " Technical Education " in London, York- shire, and other Provincial Districts connected with the Clothworking Industry alone, upwards of I2,ooo/. per annum. CLOTHWORKERS' HALL, October 14, 1891. Above all the Companies, perhaps, on the whole, the Clothworkers' are to be considered as having preserved a continuity of existence and approbation in their former warrantable espousal and protection of the trade and their present generous and intelligent patronage of it. They have thus strengthened their own hands and have become a source of power and security to others ; and this proud result is largely due to the efficiency of the Executive. LITERARY NOTICES. A profitable "booke, declaring dyuers approued remedies to take out spottes and staines in silkes, veluets, Linnen, and Wollen Cloths. With diuers colours how to die Veluets and Silkes, Linnen and Woollen Fustian and Threade. Also to dresse leather, and to colour fells. How to Gild, Graue, Sovvder, and Vernishe. And to harden and make soft Yron and Steele. . . . 4to, 1588, 1596, 1605. A translation from the Dutch by L[eonard] M[ascall]. A Declaration of the Estate of Clothing now vsed within this Realme of England. . . . With an Apologie for the Aulneger, shewing the necessarie vse of his Office. Written by lohn May, a deputie Alneger. 4to, 1613. To the Most Honorable Assembly of the Commons House of Parliament. The humble Petition of the Artizan Cloth- workers of the Citie of London. [1624.] A broadside. An Ordinance to prohibite the transporting of Wooll and fuller's earth. 1647. A broadside. The Golden Fleece : The Riches of English Wool in its Manufacture. By W. S. 8vo, 1656. A Proclamation for the preventing of the Exportation of Wools, Wool-Fells, Woollen- Yarn, Fuller's-Earth, and other Scouring-earths, out of this Kingdom. 1660. A broadside. A Proclamation for the free Exportation of Woollen Manufactures of this Kingdom from the Twentieth day of May until the Five and Twentieth day of December next. 1662. A broadside. Reasons for a Limited Exportation of Wooll. 4to, 1677. A Treatise of Wool and Cattel. 4to, 1677. An Act for Burying in Woollen. 1678. A broadside. The Golden Fleece : Or, Old England Restored to its old Honest Vocation. By J. F. 4to, 1679. The Trade of England Revived. [By John Blande.] 4to, 1680. #% This tract deals with Wool, Woollen Cloth, Linen Cloth, Silk, Silk weavers, etc. A Treatise of Wool, and the Manufacture of it. 8vo, 1685. THE CLOTHWORKERS. 343 An Abstract of the Proceedings to prevent Exportation of Wooll Unmanufac- tured from the year 1667 to this present year, 1688. By William Carter, Clothier. 4to, 1688. The Aulnage Case, or Reasons offer'd for taking away the Office of Aulnage, and changing the subsidy of Aulnage into a Custom. [January, 1690-1.] A broad- side. Reasons of the Decay of the Clothing Trade, Humbly offered to the Parliament : with some Short Proposals of Redress. By a Well-wisher to the Trade, and the True English Interest. 4to, 1691. An Essay on Wool and Woollen Manufacture. 4to, 1693. Some Thoughts on the Bill Depending before the Right Honourable the House of Lords, for prohibiting the Exportation of the Woollen Manufactures of Ireland to foreign parts. 4to, Dublin, 1698. The Interest of England, in Relation to the Woollen Manufacture. In a Dialogue between a Merchant and a Clothier. 410, 1701. Proposals humbly Offer'd to the Honourable House of Commons, by the Gloucester- shire Clothiers, and other Woollen Manufactories, for the more effectual prevent- ing the Exportation of Wooll, etc. [About 1700.] A broadside. An Essay towards the Improving of the Hempen and Flaxen Manufactures in the Kingdom of Ireland. By Louis Crommelin, Overseer of the Royal Linnen Manufacture of that. Kingdom. 4to, Dublin, 1705, I734-1 An Epitaph, or funerall inscription, upon the godlie life and death of the Right wor- shipfull Maister William Lambe, Esquire, Founder of the new Conduit in Hoi- borne . . . Deceased the one arid twentieth of April, and intumbed in S. Faiths Church vnder Powles, the sixt of Maie next and immediatly follow- ing. Deuised by Abraham Fleming. [1580.] A broadside. The Pleasant History of John Winchcomb, in his younger yeeres called Jack of Newberie, the famous and worthie Clothier of England. By Thomas Deloney. Licensed for the press in 1595. 4to, 1619, 1626, etc. An edit. 8vo, Newbury, 1760. See Herbert's Twelve Livery Companies, 1836, i., 394. Thomas of Reading, Or, The Sixe worthie Yeomen of the West. By Thomas Deloney. 4to, 1612, 1623, 1632, 1636, etc. The Six Clothiers of the West : A play by Richard Hathwaye, Wentworth Smith, William Haughton, and John Day. Mentioned by Henslowe under date of November 12, 1601, but no longer known. This drama was doubtless based on Deloney's Thomas of Reading, originally printed before 1600, in which year it is not only mentioned in Kempes Nine Dates Wonder, but was appropriated by Henry Roberts in a tract entitled Haigh for Devonshire. Henslowe also quotes the piece before us as the Six Yeomen of the West, the sub-title of Deloney's prose narrative. The Ancient Honours of the City of London recovered by the Noble Sir John Robinson, Knight and Baronet, Lord Mayor for the year 1662-3, m the true English and man-like exercise of Wrestling, Archery, Sword, and Dagger ; with the Speeches of Mr. William Smith, Master of the Game, and Clerk of the Market upon this solemn occasion. Intermitted twenty-four years, since Caraway was Mayor. [410, 1663.] We have only seen an account of this tract in a note to Herbert's Livery Companies, 1836. The Beau-Merchant. A Comedy written by a Clothier. 410, 1714. 1 In Burn's Star Chamber, 1870, may be found several notices relative to the cloth trade. 344 THE GREAT COMPANIES. CIVIC PAGEANTS. Londini Emporia; or, London's Mercatura, expressed in sundry Triumphs, Pageants, and Shows, at the Inauguration of the Right Hon. Ralph Freeman, all the charge and expense being the undertaking of the Right Worshipful Company of the Clothworkers. By T. Heywood. 410, 1633. The Triumphs of Fame and Honour : At the Inauguration of Robert Parkhurst, Cloth worker. Compiled by John Taylor, the Water Poet. 410, 1634. London's Triumph, Presented by Industry and Honour : with Other Delightful Scenes, appertaining to them : Celebrated in Honour of the Right Honourable Sir John Ireton, Knight, Lord Mayor of the said City, on the 29th day of October 1658. And done at the Cost and Charges of the Worshipful Company of Cloth- workers. By John Tatham. 4to, 1658. A Speech made to the Lord General Monck, at Clothworkers' Hall in London, the 13 of March, 1659, at which time he was there entertained by the Worthie Companie. [1660.] A broadside. Written by Thomas Jordan. London's Triumph : Presented in severall Delightful Scoenes, both upon the Water and Land : and Celebrated in Honour of the truly Loyal and known Deserver of Honour, Sir John Robinson, Knight and Baronet, Lord Mayor of the City of London. At the Costs and Charges of the Worshipfull Company of Cloth- workers. 4to, 1662. London's Triumphs : Illustrated with many Magnificent Structures and Pageants ; on which are orderly advanced several stately Representations of Poetical Deities, sitting and standing in great splendor on several Scenes in Proper Shapes. With Pertinent Speeches, Jocular Songs (sung bv the City Musick), and Pastoral Dancing. Performed Oct. 29, 1677, for the Celebration, Solemnity, and Inauguration of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Chaplin. Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. All the charge and Expenses of the Industrious Designs being the sole Undertaking of the Ancient and Right Worshipful Society of Clothworkers. Designed and composed by Tho. Jordan, Gent. 410, 1677. The Triumphs of London : Prepared for the Entertainment of the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Lane, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing A full Description of the Pageants, Speeches, Songs, and the whole Solemnity of the Day. Performed on Monday, the 29 of October, 1694. Set forth at the Proper Cost and Charges of the Honourable Company of Clothworkers. Pub- lished by Authority. By Elkanah Settle. 410, 1694. THE MINOR COMPANIES. THE MINOR COMPANIES. Hpotbecaries. BY a charter of 4 James I., April 9, 1606, the Grocers had obtained a renewal of their ancient privileges and powers in relation to the sale of all goods, drugs inclusive, connected with their Gild, and their plenary control of members of the undivided community. No idea was apparently entertained that an early dissolution of the bond between the Grocers and a branch of their corporation was to be expected, or that the grant of 1606 would be the last under which the ancient Com- pany would retain jurisdiction over pharmacy. But throughout the reigns of Elizabeth and her successor the voice of complaint and remonstrance against the incompetence of apothecaries, and the quality of the drugs sold or dispensed by them, had been gather- ing strength ; the governing body of the Grocers, through their Wardens, frequently seized and destroyed bad or adulterated wares of various kinds ; and the medical profession exposed the mischief, scandal, and danger of so important a department of medical science being without due technical training and supervision. We have no specific authority for the view ; but it is excessively probable that the opportunities which the eminent apothecary, Gideon Delaune, member of a family illustrious by its attainments in science and letters, enjoyed through his official 347 348 THE MINOR COMPANIES. preferment, about 1615, as Apothecary to the King, had a large share in shaping and maturing the project for severance in the royal mind. It was just such a scheme as James would be apt to patronize. Perchance his son Henry, instead of being poisoned by him, as it has been alleged, was poisoned by some professional empiric ; and we see that in 1614 the City did not improve matters by certain annoyances, to which James's Apothecary at that time, James Garrett, was subjected, and in respect of which he invoked his employer's intercession. The King, in or before 1614, began to move in the matter, and took credit to himself for having been primarily instrumental in accomplish- ing a very vital reform. On the 6th December, 1617, a separate charter was given to the Apothecaries, in spite of the opposition of the parent body, which memorialized and argued against the step as an unjust en- croachment on their endowment, and prevailed on the Municipality to share the same opinion. The Apothecaries' grant restrained the Grocers and all other Com- panies from keeping an apothecary's shop, and from exercising the mistery in London or within a radius of seven miles thereof ; it required every practitioner to have served his full term of apprenticeship, and to have obtained a certificate from the College of Physicians, and it con- ferred on the Society the power of search, seizure, and destruction over apothecaries' shops in London and within the aforesaid radius. The new body was entitled to buy, sell, and make drugs ; and here a main difficulty was experienced from the want of corporate resources and the expensive character of the true material. The plan was con* ceived of facilitating the execution of this very essential part of their functions by creating a Stock, to which any member might subscribe to the extent of a single non-transferable share, and which was calculated to enable them to carry on the pharmaceutical business on behalf of, and in the name of, the Society. But the heavy cost of pure drugs obliged these stockholders to produce or sell at a loss, until their affairs became embarrassed, and the Society itself took over the business, which it still manages in its corporate capacity. In addition to their own specialities, the Apothe- caries to a certain extent trespassed on the province of the Vintner in laying in stocks of the richer sorts of wines for retailing, possibly on the ground or pretext that they were liqueurs for medicinal pur- poses. Stow specifies more particularly muscadel, malmsey, sack, and bastard. OLD ARMS. When the Grocers represented to James I. the prejudice which his movement would entail upon them, he rejoined in THE APOTHECARIES. 349 a tone and spirit which certainly did him honour. After excepting to other points, the King said : " Another grievance of mine is, that you have condemned the patents of the Apothecaries in London. I myself did devise that Corporation, and do allow it. The Grocers who complain of it are but merchants. The mistery of these Apothecaries was belong- ing to the Apothecaries, wherein the Grocers are unskilful, and therefore I think it fitting that they should be a Corporation of themselves. They [the Grocers] bring home rotten wares from the Indies, Persia, and Greece, and herewith thro' mixtures make waters and sell such as belong to the Apothecaries, and think no man must control them, because they are not Apothecaries." The Society was so far fortunate in having James for a friend ; his Majesty would even call this his Society ; and in the grant of arms by Camden Clarencieux, the obligations of the Apothecaries, who might otherwise have failed to withstand the influential hostility of the Grocers, were symbolized in the introduction of the two unicorns, the dexter one denoting Scotland. At one time the Society was one of those among the Gilds of the City, which superintended the King's Beam at the Steelyard ; and the Society probably undertook the charge of the Small Beam, which was calculated for troy weight. It is deeply to be regretted in the public interest that the apothe- cary of our days is permitted to tamper alike with his material and his customer, and to deliver prescriptions, which in a heavy propor- tion of cases are false ; or to tender professional advice, which is often as worthless as it is ultra vires. But modern legislation has been rather in the direction of extending and strengthening the authority of the Society, and enlarging its sphere of usefulness ; and in the future Parliament can do no wiser thing than to make it, with proper safeguards, the medium for securing the country against the crying abuse of corrupt pharmaceutical concoctions by all but a few leading establishments. So far back as 1812 a strong effort was made to organize the medical profession on a sounder basis under parliamentary sanction ; but it was not at that time successful. The Apothecaries, the Stationers, and the Clothworkers are honour- ably distinguished in their several ways as the municipal Livery bodies, which recognise and carry out the practical side of their nominal callings, apart from any charitable or fiduciary element and consideration ; and so far as the first Society is concerned it must be obvious that, unless it is courageously and energetically supported, as being the best available machinery for the purpose, in protecting the community against igno- 350 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ranee and fraud, the advance in the other branches of medical and surgical science is sensibly retarded and neutralized. The Court of Aldermen, manifestly under the Grocers' inspiration, looked unfavourably on the detachment of the Apothecaries ; and as early as 1614, when the matter was already mooted, addressed a petition to the Lords of the Council upon it. The question was referred to two of the Judges, and all the points seem to have been well considered, be- fore the charter passed. But the controversy did not terminate there ; and as late as 1618 the King's letters patent were still unenrolled by the City Chamberlain, and James was maintaining a correspondence with the Corporation on the subject The Society is governed by a Master, two Wardens, and twenty-one Assistants. Four ordinary Courts are held in the year, and two special Courts for the swearing in of Examiners or other extraordinary business. The three grades of the Apothecaries are the Yeomanry or Freemen, the Livery, and the Court. Women are not admitted to the Freedom. Freedom of the City is optional. In 1882 and 1892 the numbers were about 400, of whom the Yeomanry made 250. This Society, the Stationers, and the Brewers enjoy the distinction of excluding persons not belonging to the vocation. They are all types of the Craft Gild, which must be accounted in some respects as more interesting and technically important than the Gild Merchant. The members of the Society dine together annually on or about Lord Mayor's Day, and usually invite such members of the Colleges of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, and others, as the Court thinks fit. There used to be a botanical excursion, known as Herborizing Day, once a year, when a second dinner was given ; but this custom has been abandoned ; and it may be predicated generally indeed of the expenditure, that it is exemplarily frugal. The Hall was acquired under the charter in 1633, and originally con- sisted of a house and grounds known as Cobham House, then the pro- perty of Lady Howard of Effingham ; these premises extended to the Thames on the eastern side of Water Lane, and occupied a larger area than the present buildings, which, with the laboratories, warehouses, and other appurtenances, cover about three-quarters of an acre. When the Society first came into possession of this estate, it was classic ground on almost every side. There was Baynard's Castle, once held by the Fitzwalters, to whom the site of Grocers' Hall also belonged ; Bridewell, first a palace and then a prison ; the Wardrobe ; and the Theatre, where so many of the dramas of the early playwrights were performed, and of which Playhouse Yard is the sole existing memorial. Moreover, Surgeons' Hall was in the Old Bailey, and the College of ffl 1 •1 » <§ S 352 THE MINOR COMPANIES. Physicians in Warwick Lane. The Apothecaries have alone remained on their original holding, until realities have faded into associations. Pepys, in his Diary, January 29, 1660-1, records his presence at a performance of three acts of The Maid in the Mill, by Fletcher and Rowley, at Apothecaries' Hall, and being pleased. It was at a period when the theatres were not yet fully in working order again ; and the Hall from its vicinage was not an inappropriate substitute for a regular playhouse. But this is the only incident of consequence which has been handed down to us of the original Hall, which totally perished in the Fire a few years later. A writer in 1695 describes its successor as " seated almost opposite to the Paved Alley that leadeth to the Ditch side, down steps against Bridewell Bridge." It was then entered by a pair of gates leading into an open courtyard, paved with broad stones. The Hall itself was 59 feet in length, 28 in width, and 26 in height. At the southern end was a screen of Irish oak, 17^ feet high, surmounted by the Society s arms ; and the apartment was wainscoted in the same material to a height of 1 5 feet. At the other extremity was the orchestra, or music gallery, surmounted by the royal arms. The place still preserves an antique aspect and a contrast to the modern life around ; although its owners and occupiers so thoroughly and worthily identify themselves with their own time and its calls. The famous men who have been members of this body, include many names familiar to the scientific and literary student : Tobias Smollett, William and John Hunter, Edward Jcnner, Sir Humphrey Davy, Dr. Sydenham, Sir Spencer WTells, and Sir Erasmus Wilson ; and among those who joined the Society, but owed their celebrity to other gifts, there were Tobias Smollett, Oliver Goldsmith, George Crabbe, and John Keats. The Physic Garden was originally leased to the Apothecaries by Charles Cheyne, Esquire, lord of the manor, in 1673, for a term of sixty- one years, and was then described as consisting of three acres, one rood, and thirty-five perches; but in 1731, some time before the expiry of the tenure, Sir Hans Sloane, the new lord, gave the ground to the Society for ever, at a quit-rent of 5/. a year, and on condition that it should annually present to the Royal Society fifty well- cured specimens of plants, the produce of the said garden, till such reached the number of 2,000 ; or, by default, the said parcel of ground to lapse to the Royal Society, which should perform the same covenants to the College of Physicians, and finally, if the Royal Society failed so to do, the property should go to the Physicians. The Apothecaries seem to have had before them more than once in THE APOTHECARIES. 353 recent times a project for parting with the Garden, and even for migrat- ing to other premises, in order to enable them to profit by the largely augmented value of those in Blackfriars. LITERARY NOTICES. The Copie of a Letter sent by a learned Physician to his friend, wherein are detected the manifold errors vsed hitherto of the Apothecaries . . . By T. W. 8vo, 1586. The ignorance of the early apothecaries is particularly mentioned in the dedication by Dr. Turner of his Herbal to Queen Elizabeth in 1 568. A Short View of the Frauds, and Abuses committed by Apothecaries ; as well in relation to Patients, as Physicians. By Christopher Merritt, M.D., F.R.S. 4to, 1669, 1670. Lex Talionis ; Sive Vindicias Pharmacopceorum : Or, A Short Reply to Dr. Merrett's Book, And Others, written against the Apothecaries . . . 4to, 1670. A Potion for an Apothecary ; Or, the Apothecarye's Portion ... To the Tune of, Old Flesh. Also the words that were written in the counterfeit Letter, as if they came from her brother out of the Country. [About 1670.] A broadside ballad with three woodcuts. A Charter granted to the Apothecaries of London, The soth of May, 13 Jac. I. Translated and Printed for the better information of the said Apothecaries in their Duty to the City of London, the Colledg of Physicians, and Their own Society. 4to, 1695. The translator was probably Gideon de Laune or Delaune. The tract is inserted in T. Delaune's Account of London, 1690. Physick lies a Bleeding : Or, The Apothecary turned Doctor. A Comedy acted every Day in most Apothecaries Shops in London. And more especially to be seen, by Those who are willing to be cheated, the First of April, every Year. Absolutely necessary for all Persons that are Sick, [or] may be Sick. [Quot. from Juvenal.] By Tho. Brown. 410. Dedicated to that Worthy .and Ingenious Gentleman, Dr. J. B. 410, 1697. On the back of the title are the names of the principal actors in this mock-play : John Galen, Tom Galypot, Lancet Pestle, etc. ; the scene is Apothecaries' Hall. The grete herball. Folio, 1516 [?], 1526, 1529, 1561. A translation from the French. A newe mater the whiche sheweth and treateth of y vertues & proprytes or herbes ; the whiche is called an Herball. 410, 1525, 1526. A translation from a Latin tract called De Virtutibus Herbarum. A new Herball. By William Turner, M.D. Folio, 1551. The seconde parte. Folio, 1562. First and seconde paries [and third part]. Folio, 1568. »% This includes the Rook of the Baths of England, and a most excellent and perfect homish Apothecarie, or Homish physic book, translated from the German by John Holybush. A little Herball of the Properties of Herbes. By Anthony Ascham. Svo, 1550. A "boke of the propertyes of herbes, the whiche is called an Herbal. By Walter Cary. Svo, Robert Redman [about 1540]. There are other editions. c.c. 23 ,54 THE MINOR COMPANIES. A Newe Herball; or, Historic of Plantes. By Rembert Dodoens. Translated by Henry Lyte. Folio, 1578 ; 4to, 1586, 1595 ; folio, 1619. With woodcuts. A Herbal for the Bible. By Levinus Leminius. Translated by Thomas Newton. 8vo, 1587. The Herball; or, Generall Historic of Plantes. By John Gerarde. Folio, 1597, 1633, 1636. Pambotanologia . . . Or, A Compleat Herball. By Robert Lovell. 8vo, 1665. A Herbal containing 500 Cuts of the most useful Plants which are now used in the Practice of Physick. By Elizabeth Blackwell. 2 vols. Folio, 1737, 1739, or 1751, Folio, with plates. There was only one edition. The Composition or making of the moste. excellent and vertuous Oil called Oleum Magistrale. By George Baker Chirurgian. 8vo, 1574. CatalogUS arborum, fructuum ac plantarum ... in horto Johannis Gerardi ciuis & Chirurgi Londinensis nascentium. 4to, 1596; folio, 1599. The practise of the new and old phisicke. By Conrad Gesner. 4to, 1599. The Vertue and Operation of this Balsame. Made by N. P., Master of Arts, and Minister of God's word. A broadside advertisement. [Charles I.] Anatomia Sambuci; or, The Anatomy of the Ehter. By Martin Blochwich. 8vo, 1677. Some Observations made upon the Brasillian Root, called Ipecocoanha. 410, 1682. Some Observations Made upon the Root called Serapias, or Salep, Imported from Turkey. Shewing its Admirable Virtues in Preventing Womens Miscarriages. Written by a Doctor of Physick in the Countrey to his Friend in London. 4to, 1694. The two preceding pieces are only part of a series or group of tracts of the same character pub- lished between 1663 and 1695, and all described in Hazlitt's Collections. Variety of Surprising Experiments made of two Incomparable Medicines: Exilir Febrifugum Martis, and Salt of Lymons. By Moses Stringer. 8vo, 1703. THE ARMOURERS AND BRAZIERS. 355 ZTfoe Hvmourers anfc 33ra3iers. FROM STOW. DURING some centuries this Association was limited to the former industry, and the Gild is in possession of records, which establish its in- vestiture with a right of search and control over armour and weapons. At successive periods it absorbed certain independent crafts, the Heaumers and other minor divisions of this flourishing industry in those times, when the use of armour, both for infantry and cavalry, and for the horses as well as their riders, was so general. It is concluded that the Braziers, who are said to have been separately incorporated about 1479, did not join them till 1708. The Braziers are described as a distinct body in 1578 ; but it is possible that from the tendency of the Armourers to traverse the lines of the other craft, the two succeeded in arriving at some unofficial basis of understanding, or co-operated for certain specific objects. The Braziers appear to have absorbed the ancient Fraternity of Potters, whom we have mentioned in the preced- ing section. As trades always established themselves, before they gave names to individuals, the antiquity of the brazier or brass-founder is shown by the patronymic Brass-faber^ Humphrey Brass-faber having been one of the Sheriffs of London, and possibly also follower of the vocation, in 1249-50. The earliest Ordinances, drawn up by the Armourers with the assent of the Corporation, are dated 1322, and provide for the good and suf- ficient quality of the goods made by this body and offered for sale by them, whereas it had been found that old, worn-out articles were vamped up, and sent into the country beyond jurisdiction, to be sold to the unwary, and that persons of all classes were thus deceived. To meet this evil, supervisors of the craft were appointed ; and those, who made the iron or steel parts, were under covenant to deliver each piece whether bassinet, gambeson, or acton, to be lined or covered, to a Linen- Armourer or Taylor. The supervisors had power of search, and might seize any armour on the premises of an armourer or otherwise that was not made according to regulations, which are specially cited in some proceedings at Guildhall in 1578, as though they were still the code in -556 THE MINOR COMPANIES. force and use. There is no indication of a renewal of these Ordinances. But the Armourers were gradually rising in consideration and re- sources, and in or about 1428 established themselves in a place of business and assembly at London Wall, if they did not at that period already own likewise the chantry in St. Paul's dedicated to St. George the Martyr, which is noticed in 1453 as belonging to the Gild. It is observable that all crafts, whose employment involved noise and smoke, as well as an abnormal demand for space, selected as a rule the outskirts of the metropolis, and fixed themselves, where accommodation was most plentiful and the interference with the traffic and the repose of the inhabitants at night was apt to be least serious. On the 8th May, 1453,31 Henry VI., the Armourers received their first charter, in which we see that they are mentioned and instituted as the Fraternity or Gild of St. George of the Men of the Mistery of Armourers of the City of London. At this period they were presumably a far more numerous body than the Braziers. In the particulars of the muster of the Crafts for the City watch, in 1469, they supplied thirty-four men against the Braziers' eight. On the 8th November, 1559, I Elizabeth, the grant of Henry VI. was con- firmed by inspeximus. On the 29th September, 1619, 17 James I., in consideration of ioo/. paid by the Company, all its privileges, with its licence in mortmain, were again renewed ; and by his letters patent, recognising the Armourers, James II. conferred in 1685 a very ample power of search and presentment over all edge tools and armour, and all copper and brass work wrought with the hammer in the City and within a radius of five miles thereof. The status of the Company in 1619 was probably very subordinate, if we are entitled to judge from the modest amount — 4O/. — which it sub- scribed under the Goldsmiths to the purchase of the Ulster Plantation. It appears that in process of time the Armourers had, as we learn from the patent of 1685, extended their industry to copper and brass work, and thus trenched on the province of the Braziers ; and this circumstance may have led to the fusion which took place in 1708, when Queen Anne incorporated the two Gilds under the style of the Company of Armourers and Braziers in the City of London. There is explicit reference in this instrument to the development of the Armourers' busi- ness just referred to ; and doubtless the present union formed the best and most satisfactory modus vivendi, inasmuch as the governing body of the combined Crafts was clothed with the largest possible faculty of inspection and penal restraint. The charter of Queen Anne is the one by which the Company is now ruled ; but its ancient privileges have become virtually inoperative, THE ARMOURERS AND BRAZIERS. 357 although it occasionally bound apprentices a few years ago. The Execu- tive is composed of a Master, Upper Warden, Renter Warden, and eigh- teen Assistants. The Court holds an annual view in May of the Com- pany's estates. According to a statement made in 1882, the pictures, plate, furniture, and armour in its possession were worth nearly I2,ooo/. Armourers' Hall, at London Wall, used to adjoin Leathersellers1 Hall, and is traced back to the earlier half of the fifteenth century. The owners were accustomed to permit its occasional use by other Companies or Fraternities at the ordinary rate of a groat a day. The Founders hired it for two days in 1497. YOU are desired to accompany the Corps of Mr. Thomas Moody, from Armourers-Hall in Coleman- Street, to the Burying Ground on Bun- Hill,- on Friday, May the 18th, 1716, by Five of the Clock in the Afternoon precisely. And bring this Ticket with you. A FUNERAL CARD. The Armourers and Braziers have been liberal contributors to the City and Gilds Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education. They subscribed J$>L i$s. to the preliminary outlay, and appear as annual donors of 5257. The Company has the honour to reckon among its honorary mem- bers Henry VI., who gave it its first charter. In the general lottery of 1567, the posy on the Armourers' ticket, No. 182,833, drawn by Thomas Tindal of London, was " God make all sure for the Armourers." But the prize was only is. 2d. According to information derived from the Loseley MSS., there was a public lottery in 1585, for the disposal of a collection of "beautiful armour;" but nothing definite is known of it, nor is any copy of the scheme or pro- spectus forthcoming. It was at all events an extremely unusual class of property to offer to competition in such a way at that date. 358 THE MINOR COMPANIES. Ufoe THE United Gild of White and Brown Bakers dates its corporate origin from a charter of Henry VIII., 22 July, 1509, under which power was vested in the new body to make, create, build, and establish a certain perpetual Fraternity or Gild of one Master and four Keepers of the commonalty of freemen of the Mistery of Bakers of the City of London and suburbs thereof, with the right to re-elect annually the said Master and Keepers, or Wardens, for the due government of the Society. In 1515, the municipal authorities accorded the Bakers as one Company the nineteenth place in order of precedence. A second charter was obtained 26 May, II Elizabeth, by which a licence in mortmain, to the value of 4 and Farster. 392 THE MINOR COMPANIES. The charter of 3 Elizabeth, October 25, 1561, established the Gild under the name of the Keepers or Wardens and Society of the Art or Mistery of the Broderers of the City of London, with perpetual suc- cession, a common seal, a licence in mortmain to 3O/. a year, and the power of pleading and being impleaded. It also conferred the right of search within the City of London and its suburbs, the City of West- minster, St. Katherine's in Middlesex, and the Borough of Southwark, and that of making bye-laws. This grant was confirmed by inspeximus of 7 James I. 20 April 1609, and was revoked by Quo Warranto in 1684. In 1686 James II. ratified a new one with the usual political and religious clauses ; but by the Act 2 William and Mary, sect. I, cap. 8, declaring all the pro- ceedings in relation to the City Gilds void, the Broderers fell back on their original charter. There are bye-laws made in 1562, 1582, 1609, and 1710. They greatly vary in number and character, the first containing 35 articles, the second, 12 ; the third, 13 ; and the fourth, 3 only ; and the difference in their tenor and object appears to entitle the three later codes to rank as supplementary to the first, rather than as independent series. At the period of the negotiation between the Crown and the Com- panies, in 1613-17, for the purchase of the Ulster Plantation, the Bro- derers were sufficiently thriving to subscribe between I5O/. and 2OO/. for a sub-share of the Mercers' manor. But it appears from a petition to Charles I. in 1634 that the trade was then " so much decayed and grown out of use, that a great part of the Company, for want of employment, are so much impoverished that they are constrained to become porters, water-bearers, and the like." The sole fruit of this prayer appears to have been, that the licence in mortmain was augmented from 3O/. to IOD/. a year. The later annals of the Broderers are destitute of general interest. Their control over the trade was called in question in or before 1707 for breaches of discipline and regulations, and eminent counsels' opinion condemned some of the penal bye-laws as invalid save only against freemen. The Executive consists of a Master, Warden, Renter Warden, two Auditors, and seven Assistants, elected on each Trinity Monday by the Livery. In 1882, the numbers of the Company were returned as 4 Freemen, 31 Liverymen,1 and the Court, as just described, or an aggre- gate of 47. In 1699, the numbers were 135, and in 1724, 116; but the returns do not specify whether the Court is included. The 1 According to Whitaker, the Livery in 1892 amounted to 39. THE BRODERERS. 393 total expenditure, exclusively of the cost of three Livery dinners and occasional donations to charities of moderate amount, appears to be about 28o/. a year, paid in fees and salaries; in 1874 the Company gave a Scholarship of 5o/. a year, tenable by a pupil of the City of London School at Oxford or Cambridge. Under the bye-laws of 1609 provision was made for five Livery dinners annually ; but shortly after that date the affairs had begun to decline. From entries in the minutes in 1874 and 1879 it is to be collected that the Broderers at that time possessed funded property in addition to the product of internal revenue in the shape of fines, and a collection of plate of some value, as a loan of it was solicited by the Education Department for the purpose of making casts for the use of students. The Company in the last century still preserved their small Hall in Gutter Lane, which they had acquired early in the reign of Henry VIII. It was sometimes let, however, wholly or in part. From 1696 to 1709 the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers, who were closely associated in business with the present body, continuously occupied it. The connection with the trade has long ceased ; and embroiderers do not seek membership. It is tolerably evident that the palmy days of this exceedingly in- teresting craft preceded its accession to the dignity of a chartered body, in 1561. The best work was perhaps produced between the middle of the fourteenth and the first quarter of the following century. But this industrial art flourished long before the earlier date cited, and its intro- duction may be assigned with confidence to the eleventh century and to Flemish influence and taste. The importance and costliness of early embroidered work may be judged from a case which came before the Court of Aldermen in 1304, in which 300 marks sterling are stated to be the value of a cloth, em- broidered with divers works in gold and silk, sold to Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and another. But we do not hear whether this was of English or of foreign execution. A charge of fraud preferred in 1374 before the Court of Aldermen by the Wardens of the Tapissers,1 who in fact preceded the Broderers, de- monstrates that the London school of embroidery then aimed at copying the style and texture of the goods of the same class produced at Arras. For it was stated that Katherine Duchewoman, the defendant, had in her house in Finch Lane wrought upon the loom a coster " after the manner of work of Arras," but made of linen thread beneath, and only covered with wool above. The Court ordered that the article should be burned ; 1 See p. 147 sicprd for some account of this Gild. 394 THE MINOR COMPANIES. but the plaintiffs seem to have interceded for the woman, and saved her piece of handicraft. She was probably warned not to do it again. One branch of the Broderers' business was the production of the superb palls which some of the Companies still possess, and which were formerly in regular use at funerals. The Merchant Taylors, Fish- mongers, Saddlers, Vintners, Brewers, Coopers, Leathersellers, and Founders have very fine specimens belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; and there is very slight room for doubt that they were in general use. Under date of October 21, 1547, the Goldsmiths paid 30.$-. to a Broderer to amend the hearse-cloth, or pall. Herbert suggests that the object may have been to remove any superstitious emblems ; but these appliances survive from a far earlier period in an unsophisticated state, even where they have undergone necessary repairs. Some idea of the cost of these palls may be formed from an entry in the Carpenters' books under 1513, whence it appears that that Company had at one time a cloth of this kind. For the cloth of gold at 2/. 3^. $d. the yard, 4/. 14*. gd. were paid; for three yards of black velvet, at 12s. 6d. a yard, i/. lys. 6d. ; for seven yards and a quarter of buckram, ^s. lod. ; for the fringe, IQS. ^d. ; and for the riband, is. 8d. The Broderer, for his workmanship, received 8/. The pall, therefore, cost altogether, I5/. 6s. $d.y besides a gratuity of is. qd. to the maker, 2s. Sa'. to the herald of arms, who certified to the accuracy of the coat worked on the pall, and 8d. to a scrivener for overseeing the bill, or a gross total of I5/. 12s. gd. But this was not by any means an extravagant total by comparison. The Coopers had at least two hearse-cloths, although of the earlier one our knowledge is restricted to the circumstance that in 1563 the Accounts are charged with about 57/. for a new one, presumably to replace it. The particulars are as follow : — £ * d- 2 Ibs. of gold and silver at 54.9. the Ib 580 2 Ibs. of Venice gold and silver 580 9 oz. of gold and silver 200 i oz. of silver 052 1 Ib. of Venice gold 2140 TT Ib. of silver . . . . . . . . .1110 2 oz. of gold and silver 0108 i oz. of gold 030 Yellow and white silk, 4 ozs o 6 10 Silks of divers colours I 3 8 1 oz. black ferret silk o o 10 2 oz. yellow silk 034 i oz. Bruges silk . . . . . . . .016 1 oz. ferret silk o o 10 2 oz. yellow and white silk. . . . . . .034 I oz. white silk . o i 8 THE BRODERERS. 395 14 oz. purple silk i 8 o \ oz. black silk 009 Purple and yellow silk . . . . . . .008 1 oz. yellow silk o i 8 5^ yards of purple velvet, at 26s. 8^. the yard . . .768 Pearls i 6 o 2 oz. of purple silk . . . . . . . .0120 Working 14 oz. of purple silk in fringes . . . .060 White thread, and thread in colours 0411 | and ^ oz. of fringe that was lacking . . . .019 Yellow cotton made fit for the cloth to keep it from fret- ting 036 Canvas . . . . . . . . . .050 A quartern of yellow kersey . . . ., . .007 Paper, flour, etc. . . 080 Candles for night-work 090 Paid to the Broderers for their workmanship in the making of the said hearse-cloth in great, with 2os. in reward by consent of the Court 24 10 4 For their bedding for seven months . . . . .044 To the painter for drawing the crest and arms for the cloth 034 £57 ii 10 It is explicitly stated that the pall of the Founders' Gild, described in the registers as " the Old Hearse Cloth embroydered with Gould and Popish images," was destroyed in 1646 by direction of the Court, pur- suant to the Ordinance of Parliament ; and the same fate possibly overtook those possessed by the Goldsmiths and other bodies. The Great Fire has not to answer for all. For these sumptuous articles the London Livery Companies were not, of course, the only customers. They were in demand for all occasions of funeral solemnity, and formed an indispensable feature at the obsequies of every personage of high social standing. The parish church at Dunstable has lately acquired by gift a relic of this de- scription, which was presented about 1516 to the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist at that place by Henry Fayrer and Agnes his wife. The Broderers enjoyed, besides, a regular custom for ceremonial, festive, and professional habits worn by both sexes, and often worked with rich materials and in elaborate patterns ; as well as for the appoint- ments of churches, the vestments of the clergy, and the decorations of the house. They supplied the ornamental garlands worn on special occasions by the Masters and Wardens of the Gilds, caparisons, ham- mercloths, court-dresses, and hangings, as well as the hilts of swords and daggers, gold and silver lace, fringes, and cords and tassels. The production of these articles of ornament or use appears to have been particularly expensive. In 1705, the Founders, a poor Company, 396 THE MINOR COMPANIES. paid I4/. 14^. 6d. for a table-cloth with embroidery, inclusive of a fur- ther charge for lengthening it and embroidering the arms. Stow, in his account of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, enumerates the munificent donations of a widow named Price in 1614 to the pulpit and communion-table of that church ; and adds that Humphrey Swan, Embroiderer of the same parish, embroidered without charge the King's arms upon the pulpit-cloth so given by Mistress Price. According to Chaucer, even in ordinary civil life gentlemen adopted this luxurious and costly class of attire ; for, in the Canterbury Tales, he says of the Squire : — " Embrowded was he as it were a meade, As ful of fresshe flouers, white and reede." The present Lord Mayor (Alderman Evans) belongs to the Broderers, and on New Year's Day, 1892, the Court waited upon his lordship at the Mansion House, and presented him with a congratulatory address in a silver casket of antique pattern. New and Singular Patternes and Workes of Linnen, seruing for patternes to make all sortes of 'lace, edginges, and cut-workes. 4to, 1591. Two editions same year. Certaine Patternes of Cut-workes. . . . Also sundry sorts of Spots, as Flowers, Birds, and Fishes, etc., and will fitly serve to be wrought, some with Gould, some with Silke, and some with Crewell, . . . 4to, 1632, and n. d. ZTbe Butcbers. THE Butchers enjoy the distinction of proved antiquity, as one of eighteen so-called Adulterine Gilds, which were required to pay their fines or licences in 1180 in token and recognition of their allegiance to the Crown. Their Master, in common with those of other ancient Brotherhoods, was termed the Alderman ; and at this time the bearer of the office was William La Feite. The Butchers' Gild next occurs as the immediate object of an Act THE BUTCHERS. 397 of Parliament (1266, 51 Henry III.) passed, after many ineffectual attempts to stay the evil, to prevent and punish the exposure for sale of putrid or diseased meat. In 1319, butchers convicted of selling meat unfit for human food stood in the pillory, and saw the condemned carcasses burnt beneath them. On the other hand, persons preferring false charges underwent a similar punishment. In remote days there were two principal markets for meat and poultry in the City : East-Cheap,1 which comprised occasional attend- ance at the Stocks in the Poultry ; and Newgate Street, or St. Nicholas' Shambles, from the spacious monastic church of St. Nicholas, of which Christ Church marks only a portion of the site. The selec- tion of these two localities was probably due, at the outset, to different causes. East-Cheap, from a period of very great antiquity, was, with the whole remain- ing area to the water's edge, the busiest of all London OLD ARMS- centres, by reason of the great and constant trade which the Thames, the Tower, Smithfield, and the ordinary wants of the citizens, alike created around that quarter. It was to the Middlesex side of the river what the Borough was to the opposite one. In the days of Fitz- stephen the most striking and characteristic scenes might have been witnessed hereabout. On the contrary, the more westerly colony may not unreasonably be supposed to have originally emanated from a settlement by leave or sufferance outside the walls of the Grey Friars in Newgate Street, and to have been fostered by the steady growth of the demand for produce until its members, long after the disappearance of the old monastery, usurped by degrees the entire quarter, and left only a narrow causeway down the centre of the thoroughfare for vehicles and passengers. There was a natural drift toward the stealthy growth of stalls and selling rights elsewhere than within the prescribed bounds ; apparently with a view to intercept the supplies and catch the custom of South- wark, the East-Cheap men tried to establish stalls on London Bridge. In 1277 a municipal ordinance had restricted the butchers to the ap- pointed localities; and in 1345 the complaint of obstruction on the King's highway was so general, that butchers and fishmongers were ordered to confine themselves to the enclosure called the Stocks on flesh and fish days respectively. 1 East-Cheap was anciently divided into Great and Little East-Cheap, and ex- tended much further westward, being separated from West-Cheap, or Cheapside, only by the Stocks Market and its precincts. THE MINOR COMPANIES. A curious petition of 1331 exhibits the successful opposition of the butchers of the Stocks Market to sales by retail on the part of foreigners, and at the same time procured the assent of the trade generally and the Corporation to the suspension of any who had been bankrupt once or twice, until he had paid his debts in full, and the renewal of the regulation obliging all butchers to reside within the City ; whereas many had houses at Stratford, and neglected their duties as craftsmen and citizens. A pleasant state of affairs is revealed as existing, when, in 1 369, a royal order called upon the Corporation to remove Butchers' Bridge, and to have the slaughtering of animals discontinued at St. Nicholas' Shambles, near Baynard's Castle. It appears that the animals were slaughtered at the Shambles, and the offal carried through the lanes and streets to the jetty called Butchers' Bridge, where it was thrown into the river ; and the Crown was prayed by many prelates and others of quality to stay such a flagrant nuisance. Stow says that in ancient times the vicinity of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, was an ill-favoured spot, where the butchers of East-Cheap kept their stalls. By an order of later date (1371) the slaughtering of all large animals was directed to be carried out at Stratford or in the village of Knights- bridge — perhaps the earliest mention of this place ; and in 1 372 we first hear of precautions against the pollution of the Thames. But the scheme seems never to have been carried out, although an Act was passed 4 Henry VII. to forbid slaughtering within the City ; and in the reign of Elizabeth the nuisance and danger to health still prevailed. So great a distance was between the letter of the law and its execution in practice. Further westward was Butchers' Row, facing St. Clement's Church in the Strand, and at no great distance from Clare Market in the rear. As it lay within the one mile radius specified by the charter of the Company, it is not unlikely that Clare Market was an offshoot from St. Nicholas' Shambles, as Leadenhall was from East-Cheap, and alike subject to the Butchers' Ordinances. Butchers' Row, which had its namesake in many of our provincial towns, was not exclusively devoted to the Craft, however ; for it was at the Bear and Harrow there that Nathaniel Lee the dramatist drank his last potation. Leadenhall Market, which became a general depot for all sorts of goods and a weigh-house, after awhile received the butchers— a detach- ment from the adjacent centre of the trade — and afforded a partial relief to the congestion of the thoroughfare and traffic. The original building, THE BUTCHERS. 399 Leaden Hall, itself had been given to the Corporation by Sir Richard Whittington in his third mayoralty (1409), and the City exercised a certain jurisdiction over the market. The complex tenure of property, even in 1595, is shown by a letter, addressed by two ladies-in-waiting on the Queen on behalf of the daughter of a bone-setter, who had be- queathed to her fourteen butchers' stalls in Leadenhall, whereof she was debarred from the enjoyment by the municipal authorities. An inquisition was panelled in 1414-15 (March 14), to delimit the area within which these folks might set up stalls and pent-houses ; and the verdict or award was, that by custom they were entitled to sell and stand on both sides of the said street of East-Cheap from north to south, from the Pye on the Hoop to the Saracen's Head, and in length, east and west, from the eastern corner of Crooked Lane to the tene- ment occupied by William Ivor. It has been thought that the salesmen of Newgate Street conveyed their offal by the Foss of Houndsditch (part of the City moat) into the Fleet, those of the Stocks Market similarly by Walbrook, and those at East-Cheap down Katherine, subsequently Rother, and eventually Pudding, Lane. The latest denomination of Katherine Lane was due, no doubt, to the existence at one period of emporia for the sale of black-puddings. In 1343 a piece of land in Sea-Coal Lane, contiguous to the Fleet river, had been granted to the butchers of St. Nicholas' Shambles, on condition that they should keep certain buildings thereon in repair, and send the Lord Mayor a boar's head annually on Christmas Day.1 This was to provide the Craft with a legal riparian easement. A similar privilege was conceded in 1402 in consideration of a yearly payment of 13^. Afd. to the East-Cheap dealers. But in both cases the operation was to be conducted only at the turn of the tide, in conformity with the statute of Winchester. At a somewhat later epoch, the transportation of this garbage was limited by order to the night-time, and two Barrow-houses were erected on the banks of the river, at the two points where the Company had ground, for accommodating the noisome matter till the state of the current allowed its committal to the Thames. Each free butcher subscribed toward the maintenance of these receptacles. No vocation was more amenable to the Statutes of the Streets against Annoyances? and accordingly several clauses refer to the City butchers. They were forbidden to scald hogs save in the common scalding-house, 1 Riley's Memorials, 1868, p. 214. 2 Stow's Survey, 1633, pp. 665 et seqq. 4-OO THE MINOR COMPANIES. or to sell any measly or otherwise unwholesome pork, to sell any flesh which had been killed above three days in the winter or two in the summer, to cast out the offal of beasts into the public way, and to drive the pudding-cart of the shambles through the streets before nine at night or after five in the morning. Butchers not free of the City were not allowed to cut any meat for sale at the Stocks market after the hour of noon, and such as they had cut before noon they might sell till vespers ; but they might carry none away. No shop, whether that of a freeman or foreigner, was to be open after daylight. They are prohibited in the Liber Albus from selling the skins before- hand on the living animals ; they are required to bring the carcasses with the hides, and sell them both in the King's market after prime. They were also forbidden to sell tallow or lard for export, in view of the enhancement thereby of the price to home-buyers. In 1363 the price of best carcass of mutton was 2s. ; best quality of loin of pork, $d. ; of beef, ^d. ; of leg of beef, $d. ; a sucking pig was valued at &/. In 2 Richard II. (1378), the maximum price for a lamb was 6d., and forestalling was unlawful. Nor was any trader at liberty, between November and the ensuing Lent, to discommend other men's meat. The butchers in the old days suffered, as the fishmongers profited, from the extraordinary frequency of public fasts, and from the dis- continuance during Lent, even in Protestant reigns, of the use of flesh. They were required, as we have noticed, to give place to the fishmongers in the market-places on fast-days. The Company was, nevertheless, in an undoubtedly prosperous con- dition in the reign of Edward III., in whose 37th year the three branches of the trade made gifts to the King of 9/., 8/., and 61. re- spectively ; in the 5935^ 12S- 2d- with an expectation during the ensuing ten years of a further increase of about 6oo/. a year.1 In the same period the Com- pany's sub-share of the Irish estate with the Salters shewed a tendency to shrinkage, having been 3377. los. in 1880 against 472/. los. in 1871 and following years. But this loss is relatively immaterial, regarding the expansive capabilities of the London property. Among the miscellaneous disbursements in the published accounts occurs a yearly item of 3/. which is termed " Pepys's gift," arising from a bequest, not of the Diarist, but of a gentleman of that name, a member of the Company in 1840. In 1878 the Company lost U33/. gs. 2d. through the defalcations of the Clerk. The Cutlers elected some time since, when the question of technical education was mooted, to refrain from entering into the movement ; but they promoted an Exhibition of Cutlery2 in 1879 at a cost of upward of 5OO/., followed by a series of Technical Lectures, delivered by eminent professional experts at the Hall to large and attentive audiences ; and they appear, moreover, to expend a considerable amount annually in donations. The Exhibition was successful almost beyond the hopes of its patrons ; and an interesting assortment of specimens of ancient work was lent by the owners. It was about the same time, that the Company decided on appropriat- 1 According to Whitaker, however, the corrected figures for 1892 were 54oo/. in- clusive. 2 The three classes of goods admitted, were General Cutlery, Surgical Cutlery, Sword Cutlery ; and the points to which exhibitors were recommended to pay special atten- tion were : general excellence of material, temper and workmanship, novelty of style, practical and general utility. There were ninety-four competitors in the three classes, of whom forty-eight were in the first. The jurors were the most distinguished men of the day in the various departments ; one gold and twelve silver medals, and twenty- eight certificates were awarded, and it was estimated that about 15,000 persons visited the show. The Company had reason at the time to believe that the project operated beneficially both on the manufacturers and their work-people. THE DISTILLERS. 467 ing ioo/. a year to the encouragment of apprentices in the cutlery trade, with a view to secure a succession and school of capable artisans ; and under this scheme bounties were payable to the masters during the term of three years and on its expiration to the apprentice, both in the shape of money and the freedom of the Company, when the report was favourable. It was a praiseworthy effort, but out of touch with the new spirit of commerce and the altered relationships between servants and employers. Distillers,1 THE usual accounts of this Company represent its origin as unknown; but there seems little doubt, from the language of the official code of rules and directions drawn up in 1639, that until the charter of 1638 was granted, 14 Charles I., August 9, the followers of the mistery were in- dependent of control, and carried on their operations according to their individual discretion ; nor did the reform of 1638 affect any but the members of the calling in and near the metropolis. The person, who seems to have been primarily instrumental in pro- moting the movement for the incorporation of the Distillers, was Sir Theodore de Mayerne, physician to the King, and a gentleman who took a great interest in all matters relating to cookery, preserving, and This Company made no return in 1880. 468 THE MINOR COMPANIES. similar accomplishments. He left behind him a very curious MS. of culinary receipts, which was published in 1658. In the book, hereinafter to be described, he is explicitly called the Founder of this Company. We have said that the charter was obtained in 1638 ; and in the follow- ing year, Mayerne, in conjunction with Dr. Thomas Cademan, medical adviser to the Queen, prepared a series of regulations and bye-laws for the management of the new scheme, with some introductory elucida- tions of a rather meagre character, relating to the circumstances which had necessitated and encouraged the step. This volume appeared in 1639, and is entitled : — " The Distiller of London : Compiled and set forth by the Special Licence and Command of the King's Most Excellent Majesty : For the sole use of the Company of Distillers of London. And by them to be duly observed-and practised." The preceding leaf is occupied by the arms, which we have engraved above, and a description of them, which is as follows : — Azure : a Fesse waivie, Argent ; between a Sun drawing up a Cloud. In the later works of reference the arms are given differently from this, and also more fully : — Azure : a fesse wavy argent; in chief, the sun in splendour, encircled with a cloud, distilling drops of rain, all proper ; in base, a distillatory double-armed or, on a fire proper, with two worms and bolt-receivers of the second. Crest : on a wreath, a garb of barley, environed with a vine fructed, both proper. Supporters : The dexter, the figure of a man representing a Russian, habited in the dress of the country, all proper; the sinister, an Indian, vested round the waist with feathers of various colours, wreathed about the temples with feathers, as the last ; in his hand a bow, at his back a quiver of arrows, all proper. Motto: " Drop as Raine Distill as Dewe." — Deut. xxxii. 2. An address from Dr. Cademan and Sir T. Mayerne immediately succeeds the title, and in it we meet with some slender outline of facts connected with the infancy of the institu- tion and the unsatisfactory state of affairs prior to that event. They tell us that it was a royal mandate, expressly set forth in the Letters Patent, that the rules should be settled and printed. In fact, the whole thing has a Court flavour ; and doubtless the in- terest taken by persons of quality of both sexes in these matters tended to accelerate the establishment of the business on a more ARMS, 1739. healthy basis than, if we may credit Cademan and Mayerne, it had till that time occupied. A second prefatory effort is subscribed by the entire Company, as it existed in 1639, namely : — THE DISTILLERS. 469 Thomas Cademan, Master. Theodorus de Maycrne, Founder. Edward Hooker, \ Foulks Wormeleighton, > Wardens. Ralph Triplctt, ) William Brouncker, Thomas Dallock, Edward Franckton, Henry Greene, Henry Pinson, Thomas Coe, Roger Palmer, Francis Heath, John Brewer, William Besse, Assistants. Barnard Fountayne, John Woods, George Snelling, William Wilks, John Bayley, Henry Boyce, Daniel Cage, Hugh Bowyer, John Carnytham, In this original list we do not see any mention of a Clerk ; but in the third edition of the Rides and Orders, etc., 1668, the name of John Greene, " one of the Attorneys of his Majesties Court of King's Bench," is re- presented as holding the appointment ; which is so far interesting, that it shews that at that comparatively early date the civic Gilds appreci- ated the need of securing the advice of a professional lawyer in the conduct of their affairs. The process necessary for completing the enfranchisement of the Dis- tillers,— the enrolment of their charter in the Chamber of London, — was delayed, however, to an unexampled extent, the Court of Aldermen declining, in the face of repeated commands from the King and his officers, to sanction the act. The latest communication from Charles I. is dated October 30, 1639; but his directions and threats were un- heeded, and the Company was not placed upon the Roll till March 17, 1658. We have seen that by the original constitution the government con- sisted of a Master, Founder, three Wardens, and nineteen Assistants, and that a Clerk was subsequently added. The place of Founder probably did not survive Mayerne himself. There appears to be no mention of the surrender of the Distillers' charter at the Restoration ; but they ceded it subsequently and received a new one, May 12, 1687 ; this was confirmed, together with the Rules and Directions, in 1690. The Court of Aldermen gave them a Livery, October 21, 1672. By an Act of Common Council, July 29, 1774, all distillers within the civic jurisdiction were compelled to be free of the Company ; but this regulation has long grown out of use. In 1699, the Livery was returned at 108; in 1724, at 127 ; in 1739, at 122 ; and in 1892, at 28. The fees on taking up the freedom are : by patrimony or servitude, 4/O THE MINOR COMPANIES. 3/. iis. 6d. ; by purchase, ;/. i$s. 6d. Upon admission to the Livery, a sum of I4/. iSs. 2d. is payable; formerly the amount was I3/. 6s. Sd. The Company holds no trust or charitable property ; but it owns the freehold of the site originally purchased for the erection of a Hall, which was never erected, besides a funded estate arising from the accumulation of surplus income, and certain articles of silver plate presented from time to time by members. To return for a moment to the book in our hands. The separate editions, specially printed for the Gild in 1639 and 1668, give the " Characters expressing the quantities, qualities, and kinds of materials and ingredients used in this work " in cipher, which in both the copies before us is alike explained in coeval MS. But in 1664, Dr. French, in annexing the Distiller of London to the third impression of his Art of Distillation, 1664, took credit for supplying the terms at length, instead of inserting them " in mysterious Characters and Figures." At p. 15 (edit, of 1668) we find the following precept : — " That no Afterworts or Wash (made by Brewers, &c.) called Blew John, nor musty unsavory or unwholesome Tilts or Dregs of Beer or Ale ; nor unwholesome or adul- terated wines, or Lees of wines, nor unwholesome sugar-waters ; musty unsavory or unwholesome returned Beer or Ale ; nor rotten corrupt or unsavory fruits, druggs, spices, herbs, seeds; nor any other ill-conditioned materials of what kind soever, shall henceforth be distilled, extracted, or draun into Small spirits, or Low wines, or beany other ways used, directly or indirectly, by any the Members of this Company, or their successors at any time hereafter for ever." The same subject is taken up again further on, in a passage which refers to the state of trade in 1668. At p. 51 we read : — "Whereas upon due examination it hath plainly appeared ; That many insufferable inconveniences have of late fallen upon this Company and their Trade, in general ; by reason of the disorderly and abusive expence and imployment of Brewers After-worts (called Wash) Insomuch that thereby, not only those of this Company that have had no hand therein, but even the Distillers themselves that have been the Delinquents, have intollerably suffered both in their Reputation, and great decay of their Trades, by these their alone inconsiderate practices. For reformation of the present disorders and abuses, and future prevention of the like. These ensuing admonitions and direc- tions, are strictly to be observed and practised. Vis. : — "That no Member or Members of this Company, or their Successors, nor any of them at any time hereafter for ever, by any way or means whatsoever, (directly or indirectly) shall or may, use, dispose, convert or imploy, any After-worts (or Wash, made by Brewers or others) into Vinegar, Beer-egar, or Ale-egar, or either of them : or to or for any other use or imployment whatsoever, except only to distill the same into Low wines or Spirits, to be re-distilled into proof spirit, for the uses aforesaid, accord- ing to the true interest and meaning of these directions. As they and every one of them respect their Oaths by them taken (when they were made free, and received into this Incorporation). And will undergo the penalties provided, or to be pro- vided, by the Ordinances of this Company, or otherwise, to be imposed or inflicted on the Contemners, Neglectors or Opposers hereof." THE DISTILLERS. 47 I We have transcribed the foregoing passage as a sample of the charac- ter and tone of these regulations for observance by freemen of the Company. The book ends with " A Catalogue of the Materials and Ingredients used in the precedent Rules," and " The Oath of every Free-man." The latter runs thus : — "THE OATH OF EVERY FREE-MAN. " You shall swear, That you will be good and true to our Sovereign Lord the King's Majesty that now is, and to his Heirs, and Successors, Kings and Queens of this Realme : and in all matters and things lawful and reasonable relating to the said Company, shall be obedient to the Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Governors of this Company for the time being, and their Successors, and shall readily appear upon all Summons by their Beadle or other officer (except you have sufficient cause to be absent), or else you will forthwith pay all such Penalties and Fines, as you shall for- feit according to the Ordinances of this Company for breaking the same : All the lawful Acts, Ordinances and Orders made, or to be made for the weale, rule and good government of the said Company, you shall to your power observe and keep ; . . . and all lawful Councels and Consultations, words, matters, and things which you shall at any time hear or know, spoken or done at any Court or other Assembly of the said Company, that doth concern the government of the Company, Reformation of Abuses, or Regulation of Refractory or Disorderly Persons, you shall not divulge, declare or make known to any Person or Persons whatsoever, whereby the good government of the said Company, Redress of Abuses therein, or Regulation of their Disorderly Members may be hindered, prejudiced or prevented. u All this you shall faithfully and truly do and performe to the utmost of your power. So help you God, and the Holy contents of this Book. " GOD SAVE THE KING." LITERARY NOTICES. The vertuose boke of the distyllaeyore of all maner of waters. By Jerome of Bruns- wick. Folio, (1525), 1527, 1529. The Treasure of Evonymvs, conteynynge the wonderfull hid secretes of nature, touching the most apte formes to prepare and destyl medicines, ... By Conrad Gesner. Translated by Peter Morwyng. 410, 1559, 1565. The Distiller of London. Compiled and set forth by the speciall License and Com- mand of the King's most Excellent Majesty : For the sole use of the Company of Distillers of London. And by them to be duly observed and practized. Folio, 1639, 1668, and with the later editions of French's Art of Distillation. The List of ciphers in both the folio copies is explained in coeval MS. The Art of Distillation. By John French, M.D. 410, 7651, 1653, 1664, 1667. To the 3rd and 4th editions is annexed the Distiller of London, with the ciphers translated into ordinary characters. A Description of the Philosophical Furnace, or A new Art of Distilling, divided into five parts. Whereunto is added a Description of the Tincture of Gold, Or the true Avruin Potabile ; Also, The First part of the Mineral Work. Set forth and published for the sakes of them that are studious of the Truth. By John Rudolph Glauber. Set forth in English, By J. F., M.D. 410, 1651. \Vith diagrams. Dedicated to his Honoured Friend John Jenison in the Bishopric of Durham, Esquire, by J. F. 4/2 THE MINOR COMPANIES. Introitus Apertus ad Artem Distillationis. Or, the Whole Art of Distillation Practically Stated. By W. Y- Worth. i2mo, 1692. Chymicus Rationalis: Or, The Fundamental Grounds of the ChymicalArt Rationally Stated and Demonstrated, By Various Examples in Distillation, Rectification, and Exaltation of Vinor Spirits . . . . By W. Y- Worth. I2mo, 1692. THE Dyers, although they are here placed in the order of the alpha- bet, are held to rank as the first of the Minor Companies. At one time, from their lengthened connection with the Shearmen and Fullers on a footing of equality, they strenuously contested precedence with the Clothworkers, when the latter represented by fusion the two other Gilds above named. But in 7 Henry VIII., by the award of the Lord Mayor, the Dyers were adjudged to follow the Clothworkers, unless the chief magistrate was of this Company, when for the time being they, agree- ably to ancient usage, would take precedence of all, if their member chose to dispense with the prescriptive usage of translating himself, on election, to one of the twelve leading Associations. We have shown how this etiquette practically amounted to an un- written law, and was not infringed till Sir Robert Willimott courageously declined to leave the Coopers in 1/43. The knowledge of the art of producing colour for all kinds of purposes at an extremely remote date, is amply demon- strated by the excellence which the illuminator and glass-painter attained in the Middle Ages ; and at a yet earlier date the secret of dyeing wools and woollen goods was familiar to those who pursued that craft, as it was little more than an evolution from the British custom of staining the person with woad or some other pigment,1 and from the prevailing partiality for bright and OLD ARMS. 1 During the mediaeval period the juices of herbs were employed to stain the features and body for purposes of disguise. THE DYERS. 473 showy colours, the dyer must have found the occupation sufficiently remunerative. The traditional story of the Orkney pirate, who in the eleventh century seized some English vessels bound for Dublin with English cloth, points to the demand in the Irish capital for gaudy and picturesque hues, as part of the booty consisted of scarlet goods, with which Sweyn decorated his ship, and thence christened the expedition his Scarlet Voyage. We incidentally point out elsewhere, that in Magna Charta, one of the clauses stipulates that there should be only one breadth of dyed cloth throughout England, and that this restriction was abrogated by Edward III. But apart from the treatment of woollen stuffs, the dyer soon acquired an additional channel for his industry in the dyeing of leather ; and in 1372 an arrangement between the Leathersellers, Pursers of the Bridge, and Dyers, defined their respective duties and obligations. The most curious feature in this transaction is, that with the last-named Craft, of whom three subscribe the Articles, their wives are associated as parties. The account, which we furnish in its place, of the changes at successive periods in the livery of the Drapers, shews what unlimited means the dyeing trade had acquired by the early part of the fifteenth century, of producing almost every variety and shade of colour, both the " sad " for every-day purposes, and the bright and gay for holidays and feasts. In the interesting series of scenes in rich stained glass in one of the corridors at Merchant Taylors' Hall, depicting the celebrated feud be- tween the Taylors and the Skinners, we are struck by the lavish and picturesque diversity of costume of the figures, both male and female, which are represented as taking part in the affair at its successive stages, from the first hustle in the streets to the final pacification at the dinner- table, and which merely reproduce the coeval apparel of those concerned. " Lincoln green " is renowned in the romance of Robin Hood and elsewhere ; but that outlaw is represented as possessing a regular store of cloth, both of that colour and of scarlet, in a poem of 1 508. Many of our elder writers celebrate Coventry bine, or the blue thread which was formerly a staple manufacture there. It was largely used for embroi- dering on white. The profuse variety of colours obtainable for costume and decoration is seen from entries in household books of the thirteenth and following centuries. Stow relates that within his memory the Earl of Oxford used to ride into London as far as his mansion in St. Swithin's Lane, attended by eighty gentlemen clad in Reading tawny with gold chains about their necks. 474 THE MINOR COMPANIES. The purple, which was formerly accounted the peculiar distinction of ecclesiastical dignitaries, was obtained from remote times from a small shell-fish (Eracinium lupullns) found then, as now, on the Cornish coast. The dyeing of silks attracted a good deal cf attention in the earlier half of the reign of James I. [1607-16], when various abuses in connec- tion with the business were exposed, and the Projectors desired to force upon the City the appointment of a Viewer of all dyed silks. The Dyers themselves more than once petitioned Parliament against the importation of logwood or blockwood, which, it was alleged, led to a large share of the deception in the process. The frauds committed in dyeing of silks seem to have been regarded very seriously, and to have been attended by disastrous consequences to the offenders. But it was not the dyer who suffered, in some cases which are reported as having come before the Star Chamber ; for al- though as early as 1516 the Wardens of the Gild were dismissed on this ground in consequence of a complaint lodged with the Chamber by the Lord Mayor, at a later date (1629-32) we find silkmen heavily amerced on the same account. In one instance, the culprit compounded by a payment of 2OOO/. ; and in another the informers were awarded 1 5/. 496 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ship, were to be studied. These movements are seldom without their share of good ; and the governing body entertained the idea of con- tinuing and extending the encouragement of the art. But we believe that nothing further has been achieved. We have heard how various trades congregated, at first more or less fortuitously, in certain quarters, to which for convenience or in the public interest they confined themselves. As Cheapside, Cornhill, Bishopsgate, the riverside, had their settlers, so we find that, from time immemorial perhaps, the Founders chose as their seat the area behind the Bank of England, always known as Lothbury, or Lodebury 1 [? Ludbury], and formerly an open area, watered, down to the middle of the I5th century,2 by the Walbrook, which almost bathed the western side of St. Mar- garet's Church. Even in the days of Defoe it was a district of com- paratively moderate consequence. The Founders, in fact, formed a colony on this ground, in order to be at a distance from the primitive centre of traffic and habitation, where their employments were calculated to be obnoxious,3 and probably during at least two centuries presented a spectacle which, from its very- humility and rudeness, it becomes interesting to contemplate in the mind's eye. A cluster of poor wooden tenements, roofed with thatch, round St. Margaret's, Lothbury, and in one of these, where the Warden or Wardens dwelt, their place of assembly and consultation. This spot was their home, their daily haunt. Their thought was for it and of it. They were familiar with every inch of the ground. They had opportunities of knowing the course of events and every turn of affairs. It is the almost invariable incidence and drift in these cases that, where they in the beginning gathered together, there they abode ; for their most solemn associations \vere with the ground and the holy building erected upon it. It was round this that they had first clus- tered, and had slowly increased in number and substance ; and they instinctively clang to the place as one breathing a charmed and sacred atmosphere. The ancient nomad instinct was in them no longer. Where their first choice or the exigencies of their position brought them, cen- tury after century witnessed their survival, probably their aggrandize^ ment and evolution. The common practice of the Gilds, until they obtained a regular seat, 1 (' By S. Giles Churchyard was a large water, called a Poole : I reade in the yeere 1244, that Anne of Lodbury was drowned therein." — Stow's Survey, ed. 1633, p. n. 2 In 1440 the stream at this point was vaulted over by Robert Large, Mercer, and the church extended. 8 See the Statutes of the Streets against Annoyances, printed in Stow's -Survey, 1633, No. 25, where the Founders are particularly mentioned. THE FOUNDERS OR COPPERSMITHS. 497 was to assemble in some religious establishment, at the residence of the Wardens, or at the Hall of another Fraternity. The first allusion to any place of meeting in the present instance is under 1497, when the Brewers' and Armourers' Halls were hired at a groat a day on different occasions, but in each case for two days ; on April 12, 1513, certain business was transacted " in Coleman Street," possibly at one of the Wardens' houses ; in 1516, Leathersellers' Hall was engaged. Not as it happened with the Drapers, Ironmongers, and others, a small and poor community, cleaving to the soil whence it sprang, and where its bread was, and its altar, and the ashes of its dead, looked around in quest of a worthier meeting-house and a more commodious repository of its possessions; and in 1534, or thereabout, two houses and a parcel of ground lying between St. Margaret's and what is now Moorgate Street, were purchased by eighteen members of the Gild l for the purpose of a common Hall. How long subsequently to this import- ant transaction, denoting a new era in the annals, the object was actu- ally accomplished, we do not learn ; but it is abundantly clear that the financial condition of the Founders long after this time was too humble and weak to permit the allotment of common funds to building expenses ; and we shall not probably be far from the truth in assuming that they followed the practice of much richer bodies by working piece-meal, and even contenting themselves at first with the available accommodation. The tradition 'is, that the vacant plot bought with the tenements was the garden or burial-ground of the Friars Austins ; and if this had been so, we should have to suppose that the transfer was somewhat later than that usually assigned to it, since, prior to the Dissolution, the monks would scarcely have parted with their garden, arid still less with their graveyard. But the fact is, or seems to be, that this is an unsupported theory ; and the site of the original seat of government and meeting was not indeed on the eastern, but on the western side of St. Margaret's,, toward Coalman or Coleman Street, before Moorgate Street existed. Not many notices of the building occur. It stood at some distance back from the thoroughfare, the frontage belonging to the Corporation, and appears to have been approached by a lane or alley leading to a spacious paved courtyard. St. Margaret's was immediately to the east of it ; in the rear were a few detached buildings in large grounds, with a view of the Moor beyond. We incidentally hear of the basement let as early as 1 565 at 4/. a year, the refectory, two parlours with a glass window between them, the sizing room, the gowns' room, a paved kitchen, and an inner buttery, where the treasure -chest was kept ; but 1 Eight contributed 2os. each, the rest, 2/. 155-. ; altogether, io/. 15^. C.C. 32 498 THE MINOR COMPANIES. there is no specific account of the house. The refectory and parlours were almost obviously on the first floor, and there was a storey above, where the Clerk probably had his dormitory. In 1549, a company of players paid icxr. for the use of the place, and a wedding-party was charged only a groat about the same time ; perhaps it was the marriage of a member, as various sums are entered for this sort of service, one of 12s. A Haberdasher, in 1558, gives no more than $d. The Hall was lost in the Fire, and was rebuilt by private subscription. The corporate means, however, remained chronically slender, and por- tions of the building were let ofif for different purposes and to a variety of persons or public bodies,1 till in 1846 the whole was rented by the Post Office. But at the same time the Company, by this and various other financial expedients, swelled its income ; and in 1854, the old quarter, which had been the home of the Craft between five and six centuries, was finally abandoned, and a house on the western side of St. Swithin's Lane purchased for 3,5OO/. under a special licence in mortmain. In 1877, New Founders' Hall, which involved a loan of £,ooo/. at four per cent, was erected. The possession of the fee simple affords security for the ultimate freedom from debt ; but of course the Founders' fortunes have entered on a new phase irreconcilable with the Lothbury traditions. They belong to the same category as the Loriners, Needlemakers, and Spectaclemakers, with the special advan- tage of handsome premises for official and convivial purposes. Histori- cally the curtain falls, as it rose, in Lothbury. A dispassionate consideration of the few known leading facts relative to the Founders during their five or six centuries of life as a Society in Lothbury and elsewhere, induces us to attach greater weight than at first sight we might be prepared to do, to the statement of the Company in 1652, that it began in 1472 with "twenty-four poor honest men" ; for the paucity of members of more than very moderate means was evi- dently, down to the middle of the present century, a ruling and chronic feature. Many of the Gilds were poor ; but they either linger in obscur- ity or have disappeared. Here we have one, which hung on a single thread — a fortuitous and happy investment at the Reformation in a City freehold on the part of certain of its members — and was at last redeemed 1 Among those who had the use of portions of the premises were the Merchant Adventurers, who leased the sizing and gowns' rooms, the Brown Bakers, who occupied the warehouse under the Hall, the Loriners, Clockmakers, Gunmakers, and Ticket-porters, the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge, preachers, players, and dancing-masters. In 1699, the Scots Church in London took a lease of the Hall and parlour for forty-one years. THE FOUNDERS OR COPPERSMITHS. 499 from ruin by that agency alone. We have the official admission that the Fraternity or Company was indigent and limited in 1472 ; we are officially apprised that it was in narrow circumstances from 1740 to 1 840; and the sale of plate under pressure is a periodical incidence ; but there may have been a middle period of prosperity, for which the vouchers perished in 1666, inasmuch as, although the prime cost, in or about 1534, of the premises in Lothbury was undoubtedly small, and there is no evidence for heavy subsequent outlay, that of the second Hall is computed at nearly 4,000!. — an amount which would not have been advanced in the I7th century on the property, and must have come from internal sources as before. The most ancient book of accounts belongs to 1497, and comprises a schedule of the plate and other effects then in the possession of the Founders. But some of these articles had been ac- quired at an earlier period, as the collection at present includes two masers attri- buted to the end of the fourteenth century. In the inventory we observe basons and ewers of latten or laton, a species of fine brass, dishes, table-cloths, and two plain THE BOWIN SPOON, 1625. " washing towells." The silver and silver-gilt objects are what are intended, when in a subsequent 5OO THE MINOR COMPANIES. entry there is a reference to the Juells belonging to the Craft ; the term might extend to the vessels employed in St. Clement's Chapel. From time to time plate, which would have represented a very large and valuable collection, was presented ; but the necessities of the Com- pany, from narrow receipts, irregular payments of dues, constant levies for public purposes, and the severe loss entailed by the Fire in 1666, rendered the periodical conversion of everything of the kind into money indispensable ; and of the entire quantity received not more than four ancient pieces remain. The plate falling within this category comprises a spoon presented by Humphrey Bowin, with his initials and the date 1625 and three tankards, for the purchase of which Thomas Fisher, Merchant and Founder of London, left 5O/. by his will, proved in 1708. There are also two masers, one with a cover, ascribed to the reign of Richard II. ; a Venetian glass of the i6th century, richly painted with an allegorical design, and said to have been taken by a yeoman of the English guard at the siege of Boulogne in 1544 ; and a copper chest, probably the one mentioned in the records as given by Mr. Stephen Pilchard, Upper Warden, in 1653-4. The glass, which has a silver foot with the hall- mark of 1607, was bequeathed by Richard Wioley, Master in 1631 and 1640, is used on election-day, when the old Master presents it, filled with hippocras, to the new one. There is also a set of six china bowls, the gift of Mr. Thomas King, Clerk to the Company, in 1784, with the arms painted on them ; these are of the ordinary Oriental type, some- times called Lowest oft. With the excellent monograph of Mr. Williams before us we cannot refrain from annexing a few extracts from the portions of the book which illustrate the share of the Company in public transactions of various kinds. Upon the visit of Elizabeth to St. Paul's, on November 18 in the Armada year, the Founders were required by precept from the Mayor to attend with their whole Livery in their best apparel at their appointed stand covered with fair blue cloth at eight o'clock in the morning, and there were to be Whifflers1 in coats of velvet and chains, ten at the least. In 1614 the Founders associated themselves with the Haberdashers, Turners, and Wax-Chandlers in taking up a 2,ooo/. share of the Irish Plantation, contributing 9O/., while the Haberdashers stood for i688/., the Wax-Chandlers for I2O/., and the Turners for IO2/. The Founders sold their portion in 1686 for 1447. ^s. 6d. It is so far worthy of remark that the tenants-in-chief had realized their own several years before. 1 Young freemen who played on a whiffle, a sort of pipe, and headed a procession. See p. 310 supra for a representation of one. THE FOUNDERS OR COPPERSMITHS. 501 In 1627-8 the Wardens of this Company, the Sadlcrs, and the Glaziers were committed to Newgate for omitting to pay the respective quota toward a loan to the Crown of i2O,ooo/. The assessment on the Founders was 9O/., and they compounded for 2O/. .About 1649 we detect a habit of holding the meetings of the Com- pany elsewhere than at the Hall, which was probably let. There are such entries as the following : " Paid at the Three Tuns two severall tymes about our Whifflers and other business concerning Lord Mayor's THE TREASURE CHEST, 1653. Day . . . £3 6s. gd. ; " " Paid upon Midsummer Day at the Dagger [in Cheap] . . . £2 43. 6d. ; " " Paid upon Bartholomew Day at Islington ... ^5 js. iQd. ;" "Paid upon — Sepr. at the Ship in Ould Fish Stfc . . . £2 i$s. 4 anfc Silver Wpre Drawers,1 ARMS, 1739. PRESENT ARMS. THE art of drawing wire and thread, formed from the precious metals, was doubtless a development, although an early one, of that which limited itself to copper and iron. Both branches of the trade existed in a thoroughly established state in the reign of Edward IV.2 „ The 1 A fuller account of this Company than is practicable in a general work will be found in Mr. Horace Stewart's very useful and elaborate monograph, History of the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre-Draivers, and of the Origin and Development of the Industry which the Company represents. 4to, 1891. With illus- trations. 2 The wire enclosing the wooden handle of the Wai worth dagger at Fishmongers' Hall has the appearance of oxydized silver, and if so is a very early example of this kind of work. 524 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ordinary Wire-workers were at that period, as we have already shown, on an intimate footing with the Pinners, and seem to have occupied the same quarters and used the same ledgers. In 1565 the Wire-workers framed a petition for union with the Chape-makers, by the name of Wiremongers ; and in 1569, 10 Elizabeth, they and their old associates the Pinners united with the Girdlers. The Pinners became an inde- pendent Company in 1636 ; but of the iron and copper Wire -drawers we hear no more till, in 1702, an abortive scheme was brought forward for amalgamating them, the Lacemen and Weavers with the Gold and Silver Wire Drawers. Of the Craft immediately under consideration the earliest notice be- longs to the reign of Edward IV. (1461), when the members are included among the foreigners who were obliged to restrict their shops to the manor of Blanche- Appleton (or rather, perhaps, Blanche-Chapelleton) adjoining to Fenchurch, where there seems to have been a sort of market, accredited by Stow with giving its name to Mart (or Mark) Lane. The historian's words are : — " Then have ye Blanch Apleton, whereof I read in the thirteenth of Edward the first, . . . This Blanch Apleton was a Mannor, belonging to Sir Thomas Roos, of Hamelake, Knight, the seventh of Richard the second, standing at the North-east corner of Mart-lane^ so called of a priviledge sometime enjoyed to keepe a Mart there." The art was clearly of Continental origin, and long remained in the hands of settlers from France or Flanders. The present Association was probably an outgrowth from the Iron and Copper Wire Workers, who joined the Girdlers, but eventually merged in the Tin Plate Workers. In the list of City Gilds, as they stood in 1501-2, the Wire Sellers are said to possess a prescriptive Livery of twelve. Whether the same body, as in other cases, both made and sold the goods, and the Wire Sellers are identifiable with the Drawers, we do not certainly know. The chief source of demand for the present article of commerce lay in the occupation and requirements of the Broderer, between whose Gild and that under notice an intimate relationship long existed. The Gold and Silver Wire Drawers were the manufacturers of the material which the Broderers so largely and profitably employed, while the fashion for that kind of work prevailed ; and when the idea arose of introducing richer tissues in place of ordinary colours in wool and silk, as in the most ancient extant specimens from the eleventh century downward j1 and the interests and welfare of the two fellowships were necessarily 1 The Bayeux Tapestry is, no doubt, the oldest example which has been trans- mitted to us of ordinary embroidery. THE GOLD AND SILVER WVRE DRAWERS. 525 bound up together. At the same time, the historian of the Company has, perhaps, not kept the two crafts sufficiently distinct, as regards their respective employments and specialities ; and not unfrequently cites the Broderer as if he were identical with the other craftsman who, as a manufacturer, was more directly connected with the Refiners and the Spinners, and whose own particular industry appears to have been appor- tioned between the working Drawers and the Stuff-men. There is a considerable amount of confusion and difficulty attendant on the task of tracing the progress of this body of artisans prior to its attainment, in 1693, of a short-lived independence and comparative prosperity. The pernicious system of patents and commercial farms, which reached its height under the first and second Stuarts, aggravated the troubles of the Craft by placing it between two hostile influences, the jealousy and rivalry of the Goldsmiths on the one hand, and the rapacious court-jobbers and their tools on the other. James I., equally weak, inert, and unprincipled, vacillated in this case in a singular manner, as he was successively approached by the repre- sentatives of one interest or another. The fundamental objection and drawback to the encouragement of the trade in gold and silver wire were the consumption which it involved of English bullion ; and in 1623-4 the King permitted letters patent to pass to certain persons therein named, on condition that they should replace the waste by importing an equivalent amount of foreign metal. These grantees, however, were not the members of the industry, but monopolists ; l and on this circum- stance being made known, or at least being laid as a grievance before the authorities, the charter was revoked. The Goldsmiths, who exercised the same mistery, also threw difficul- ties in the way of the establishment of the members of it with a separate constitution. The King himself professed to be much scandalized by the abuses involved in the patents ; but he was surrounded by creatures whose sole aim was plunder. Men of all ranks competed for any privilege obtain- able by appeals to the royal cupidity or weakness. One of the most greedy, unscrupulous, and persistent of these schemers was Sir Edward Villiers, to whom the King, having exacted from the patentees, in con- 1 In some cases the patentees were guilty of enhancing their profit by alloying the gold and silver with lead. But there was every variety of deception. In 1630-1, a maker of hatbands, named Grymes, was fined by the Star Chamber for using silver mixed with copper thread, and silver and gold mixed with purl and oes of copper double gilt. Burn's Star Chamber, 1870, p. 112. Spurious material was at the same time imported from the Continent. 526 THE MINOR COMPANIES. sideration of their charter, an annuity of i,ooo/., transferred the payment as an indemnity to Villiers for the loss of other sinecures. In 1650 an address was laid before the House of Commons by the Refiners and Gold Wire-Drawers of London, praying to be made a body politic, with one Master, three Wardens, twelve Assistants, and a Com- monalty ; and in 1662-3 tne King was moved by the Queen-mother and the maids of honour to grant the former petitioners a patent, in the name of trustees for their benefit, on account of the corruption of gold and silver lace. But in neither instance did any substantial fruit arise from these efforts. The levelling tendency of the Great Fire, and the more liberal temper which marked institutions after the Revolution of 1688, combined with the commencing withdrawal of many of the Great Companies from an active participation in business, made it possible for the Wyre Drawers in 1693 to secure their long-cherished object ; and on the i6th June in that year they were incorporated as " The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Art and Mistery of Drawing and Flatting of Gold and Silver Wire, and Working and Spinning of Gold and Silver Thread and Stuffs of the City of London." The jurisdiction of the new Company extended over London and South wark, and a three miles' radius from either ; and all members of the calling were obliged to be freemen. The governing body was directed to consist of a Master, four Wardens, and not more than thirty-six Assistants. Bye-laws were framed by the Executive in January, 1699- 1700, and were passed by the Judges on the i/th October following. At this period the Company, though very far indeed from affluent,1 was in a tolerably satisfactory condition. In 1715, 358 were paying quarterage; and in 1743, when it was proposed to forbid by Act of Parliament the wearing of gold and silver lace, it was publicly stated that no fewer than 6,000 persons (including women and children) were dependent on the trade. In 1761, additional facilities were acquired for receiving apprentices ; and in 1780 a Livery of 100 was granted. The grades of membership are, Freemen, Liverymen, Stewards, As- sistants, Wardens, Master. Women are not disqualified from becoming members of the Freedom or Commonalty ; and widows of deceased free- men are entitled to join on payment of 6s. lod. In 1882, there were 52 Freemen and 43 Liverymen. The Livery was returned in 1892 as 107. In the ten years 1870-9, there were 21 admissions to the Livery, 1 In the first year of its existence (1694), the total corporate expenditure did not exceed 36/. us. od. THE GOLD AND SILVER WYRE DRAWERS. 527 of which 12 were in 1879. In the same space of time three apprentices were bound. The Company has i,ooo/. 3 per cent, stock, producing 28/. los. a year, of which ioo/. accrued under the will of Mrs. Christian Russell, Septem- ber 20, 1723. The residue is the accumulation of surplus internal revenue. In 1834 the assets were stated to be 77 5/. four per cent. Bank annuities. In 1892 the income was returned at 657., 3/. in trust inclusive. The Company had, some years ago, when such schemes were rather popular, the notion of organizing an industrial exhibition of gold and silver wire fabrics, of which it is believed to possess a few specimens, and of which others are in the hands of collectors or in museums. But nothing further has yet been accomplished toward such an object. It also owns a few official insignia and two or three pieces of silver plate. The arms, of the grant of which there seems to be no precise evidence, first occur in Maitland's History, 1739, and are found on the common seal of 1742. The independent career of the Wyre Drawers in the sense of an exe- cutive body was remarkably brief and uneventful, and under existing circumstances their standing is purely social and municipal. From our first knowledge of them in 1461 as a colony at or near Fenchurch, down to the end of the seventeenth century, there is no intimation or even hint of a Hall. But they appear to have migrated at a subsequent period further westward. Upon their incorporation, they engaged quarters at Plaisterers' Hall in Addle Street, where they remained till 1696, when they removed to Broderers' Hall in Gutter Lane, which they rented till 1709. The expense, however, proved too heavy for their narrow resources, and they have since met at Bracy's Coffee House in Silver Street, at Tom's Coffee House in Wood Street, at the Half Moon Tavern in Cheapside, and other places. LITERARY NOTICES. By the King. A Proclamation concerning Wyer, Thread, and other Manufactures of Gold and Silver. [June 16, 1624.] A broadside. The Humble Petition of the Refiners and Gold Wyer Drawers of London. To the Supreme Authority of this Nation, the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England. 1650. A broadside. Proposals Humbly Presented to his Highness, Oliver, Lord Protector of England, . . . and to the High Court of Parliament, . . . for the Regulating of the Manufacture of Gold and Silver Thread and Wyer, and for the Passing an Act against Transporting Gold and Silver. . . . Folio, 1656. **# Violet produced other works on this subject. See Hazlitt's Collections and Notes, 1876-91. 528 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ZTfoe GunmaKers. AT some distance from the opening years of the seventeenth century, the manufacture of manual fire-arms still remained in the hands of per- sons unconnected with any special Union or Fellowship, and avowedly dispersed among other Gilds, at an epoch when scarcely any division of labour was without its separate organization ; and it further appears that the operation of testing weapons or implements of this class was left to blacksmiths and other incompetent persons, to the discredit of the calling and the public peril. The records of the Brewers and the pages ot Stow contain the name of Edward Harvest, Brewer, who died in 1610, and was described on his monument as " one of his Majesty's Gunners." Whether he was also a brewer, or merely free of that Company, does not appear, nor indeed, whether he was a maker of fire-arms or a cannon- founder. But he probably held an official appointment under the Crown, and was one of those who were opposed to the unprofessional gunsmiths. He may have served Elizabeth in the same capacity, as he was her contemporary rather than her successor's. Just about the time when the long-standing quarrel between the Blacksmiths and the Clockmakers was drawing to a close, the abuses and dangers attendant on the gun manufacture were represented to the Crown ; and it was likewise alleged that the weapons of London fabric were the best of the kingdom, if the existing irregularities could be corrected by the formation of the skilled and experienced makers into a Company with proper authority. These were the circumstances under which the charter of the Gun- makers was delivered, March 14, 1637-8, to Henry Rowland, Gunmaker, and sixty-two other persons, all freemen of London, practising and using the art, for themselves and all others who might succeed them, by the name of The Master, Wardens, and Society of the Mistery of Gun- makers of the City of London, with a licence in mortmain to 40!. a year, a common seal, the right of making ordinances in writing, and of elect- THE GUNMAKERS. 529 ing officers, and the power of view, gauge, proof, trial, and marking of all hand-guns, such proof or trial to be with good and sufficient gun- powder and weight of bullet of lead sizeable to every several gun. This jurisdiction extended over London and a ten miles' radius ; and all persons making, using, or selling guns, dags, pistols, barrels, or locks, were required to bring them to be examined and marked at the Com- pany's Hall or other meet place appointed. The mark of the Company was to be GP. The Executive, in addition to the customary functionaries, was ordered to consist of two or more of the Assistants, to superintend the processes of proof and trial, and to be renewed from year to year. Henry Row- land was nominated by the Crown the first Master, and Thomas Addis and John Watson the first Wardens. A special clause was inserted, saving any orders of the Privy Council and Council of War. Ordinances agreeable to the charter were approved, and a Livery granted, in 1670. In the Ordinances, Gunmakers' Hall is named as the place of meeting, and each member is required to contribute 2s. 6d. to the annual dinner. As the Company does not appear to have ever owned any premises except the Proof House at Whitechapel, probably that is the spot in- tended. The governing body is in conformity with the charter ; but the staff, besides the Clerk and Beadle, comprises the two View and Proof Assist- ants, and the Proof-master, of whom the latter is not a member. In 1882 the Liverymen numbered 32 and the Freemen 58. The estate wholly consists of accumulated savings from the profits of the proof business, representing the interest on nearly 3O,ooo/.1 This is a solitary case in which modern legislation has not interfered with an old institu- tion, and .the Gun Barrel Proof Act of 1868 recognises the charter; but the Company's establishment at Whitechapel is subject to the pro- visions of the Explosives Act, 38 Viet. c. 17. In 1857 the Court of Common Pleas upheld the title of the Gunmakers to stamp manufac- tures apart from any rights of the Birmingham Proof House. It may be predicated of this Association that it stands on very peculiar ground, and is a Livery Gild in form rather than in spirit. It has no his- torical and barely any municipal tie ; there is no religious atmosphere around it, no romantic mystery, no antiquity, no striking personal dis- tinction on the part of any of its members, no impressive vicissitudes. It is a sober, discreet, practical, thriving syndicate, with a single aim and an untiring eye to business ; and it has worked these two hundred years 1 In 1834 the Gunmakers returned their income at over i,2Oo/. a year. In the years 1870-9 it varied from over 4,ooo/. to rather under 3,ooo/. In 1892 it was returned at 2,5/. C.C. 34 530 THE MINOR COMPANIES. and more, down there at Whitechapel, ever since it was a rural hamlet, for the public good and for its own, unaffected by Great Fire, undis- turbed by Scire Facias and Quo Warranto. ITbe Iborners [ant> Bottlers], The arms arc : — Argent on a chevron between three leather-bottles sable, and as many bugle-horns, •stringed of the first. THIS Gild certainly lays just claim to the distinction of having been one of the most ancient among those of a similar character founded in the City of London, and it is predicable of it, that its very lengthened duration as a voluntary Brotherhood was parallel with its greatest prosperity, owing to the more general employment, subsequently to the grant of a charter, of other fabrics for domestic and commercial purposes. Stow merely says1 : " As for bottle-makers and horne-makers, the precedent times have remembered them to be of antiquity, and two distinct Companies combined in one ; but I finde no record that they were at any time incorporated." The fair originally granted by Henry III. in 1268, according to the received tradition — though it has been alleged that it went back as far as King John— to the Horn-makers, to be held at Charlton, near Woolwich, for three days, was first kept in Trinity Week, but afterward changed to the month of October, commencing on St. Luke's Day (October 18). It acquired the name of " Horn Fair," and became in course of time a rather disorderly festival, insomuch that " All is fair at Horn Fair," passed into a popular saying. Here every species of article and utensil formed of the material — drinking-horns, hunting-horns, powder-horns, ink-horns —were on view and sale, and retailers replenished their stocks. 2 We 1 Survey of London, 1633, p. 168. 2 The fair was finally abolished in 1872. "An ink-horn phrase," or "to smell of THE HORNERS AND BOTTLERS. 531 shall presently see that two provincial fairs were also important marts for this craft. In 50 Edward III., the Homers were ranked among the forty-eight Misteries of London, and were represented by two members on the Court of Common Council. In the reign of Henry IV. it was found that the large export of the raw material began to prove very detri- mental to the native industry; and by statute 4 Edward IV. c. 8, strangers and foreigners were precluded from buying unwrought horns of butchers, tanners, and others, to the prejudice of freemen of the Company ; and the power of search vested in the latter was enlarged to a radius of twenty-four miles from London and to Stourbridge and Ely fairs. The repeal of this Act in the first year of James I. was represented by the Homers to be so fatal to their interests, that in the seventh of the same reign and the third of Charles I. the privileges and powers of the Fellow- ship were renewed, with certain exceptions as regarded the power of search at Stourbridge and Ely fairs, but with an extension of authority to check the exportation of unwrought horns. An indication of their commencing decline in the fifteenth century is indirectly furnished by their return of eight men-at-arms to the muster for the City Watch in 1469, as this was nearly the minimum quota. They do not present them- selves-at all in several of the official lists between that date and 1629. It was not till 13 Charles I. (January 12, 1638) that the Homers, after an existence of nearly four centuries, acquired their charter and bye- laws. They were incorporated by the name of the Master, Wardens, Assist- ants, and Fellowship of the Mistery of Homers of the City of London, with a common seal, and the other customary rights ; and the Company embraced all free homers within the Cities of London and Westminster, their liberties and suburbs. Authority was also conferred to elect a Master, two Wardens, and ten or more Assistants, and to meet in the common Hall or other convenient place for the transaction of business. Freemen were bound to reside in London or the liberties, or within seven miles thereof, and to refrain, under a penalty of 40^., from buying or taking any manner of unwrought work within twenty-four miles, and from buying any horns, or parts of horns, of cutlers or other persons within the realm of England and dominion of Wales. In 1837 the Report of the Commissioners ranks this as the fifty-fourth out of eighty-nine bodies. In 1846, the Court of Aldermen granted the Homers a Livery of 60. The Company is not mentioned in the the ink-horn," were terms formerly denoting a style which savoured of pedantry or academical conceit. 532 THE MINOR COMPANIES. returns of 1699 and 1724; but in 1882 the number of members was given at 13, three freemen inclusive. In 1892 the Livery is returned as 17, and the total income as 99/.1 The Homers at present hold no property, but they had at one time a warehouse and sheds in Wentworth Street, Whitechapel, purchased in 1604 on lease at 4/. a year for 1000 years, the proceeds of which, on their demolition for public improvements in iSSi, were invested in Consols, and appear to realize about /2/. a year. The only other sources of income are the fees, fines, and quarterages. The only privilege attached to the Freedom or Livery is the right to vote for the parliamentary representatives of the City, if the person reside within twenty-five miles, and for Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and other civic functionaries under any circumstances. The fees payable are as follows : — Upon taking up the Freedom, I/. 13^. ^d. by patrimony or servitude; 35/. by purchase; upon admission to the Livery, I5/. ; upon election on the Court, io/. There are other minor fees to the Clerk. It was formerly the practice for certain delegates of the Gild to attend at Leadenhall and other markets or fairs, and buy horns, which were consigned to their depot at Whitechapel, and divided by lot among the freemen, their widows and orphans, all of whom participated in the monopoly then enjoyed under the charter. But the premises above mentioned were already let in 1796 at a bene- ficial rental of 3 1581, i583> i588> 1596, 1605. The Armes of a.11 the Companies of the Worshipfull Cyttye of London. Entered at Stationers' Hall, i Dec., 1589. A Tracte, containing the Artes of curious Paintinge Caruinge Buildinge. By Paolo Lomazzo (a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci). Translated by Richard Haydocke. Folio, 1598. An Idea of the Perfection of Painting ; Demonstrated from the Principles of Art, and by Examples. ... By Roland Freart. Translated from the French by John Evelyn. 8vo, 1668. The Art of Painting. Wherein is included The whole Art of Vulgar Painting. By John Smith, Clockmaker. 8vo, 1676, 1687, 1705. Londons Armory Accurately Delineated in a Graphical display of all the Arms, Crests, Supporters, Mantles and Mottoes of every distinct Company and Cor- porate Societie in the Honourable Citie of London. By Richard Wallis, Citizen and Arms painter of London. Folio, 1677. In this volume the arms are engraved on a very large scale and in a very finished style ; but it does not give all the Companies, although it includes the Newfoundland, Canary, and one or two others of unusual occurrence, as well as the Trinity House and the College of Physicians. A Short Introduction to the Art of Painting and Varnishing. Probably by John Smith. 8vo, 1685. A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing. By George Parker, Varnisher and Japanner. Folio, 1688. With plates. THE introduction of a contrivance for enabling pedestrians to traverse the dark and filthy lanes and alleys, with which the City formerly abounded, was doubtless due to an observation of the Continental prac- tice of employing the clog. The first tidings which we gain of such a fashion coming into vogue in London is in 1400, when the Pouch-makers' Gild either brought what are termed galoches into use, or obtained the right of controlling the manufacture. This privilege almost necessarily implies that the galoche was secured to the foot by leathern straps, as otherwise the Pouch- makers could not have claimed any interest in the matter. THE PATTEN MAKERS. 583 During a certain period the Fellowship, thus entrusted with the liberty of oversight or surveillance, probably limited itself to that function ; but in 4 Henry V. (1416-17) the Pouch-makers and Galoche-makers were united under one government, and so continued in the sixth year of the same reign. But in the ninth year the Galoche-makers no longer appear by name, nor do we know what was their status between 1419 and 1469, when we find the Patten-makers a distinct Fellowship, with the power of contributing to municipal obligations. Yet they did not obtain a charter till 22 Charles II. (August 2, 1670), when they were incorporated under the style of The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Fellowship of the Company of Patten-makers of the City of London, with a right of search over a radius of ten miles, a licence in mortmain to ioo/. a year, and the power of passing Ordinances. Such Ordinances were drawn up and approved in 1673 ; and in the following year the Court of Aldermen resolved that all persons free of the Company were entitled to the freedom of the City. The employment of a medium for raising the wearer out of the garbage and mire inseparable from ancient urban life, both here and abroad, dates from a period even anterior to the first mention of the galoche. At Venice the ladies used the chopine, of which an illustration maybe seen in Mutinelli (Del costume Veneziano, 1831), and Coryat furnishes an account of it in his Crudities, 1611. In an English play published in the same year (Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks) a lady is described as going to church in her new chopines, which were probably ordinary clogs or pattens. The arguably foreign origin of the patten may be a ground for crediting the statement of Stow, that the Church of. St. Margaret Pattens, Fenchurch Street, was so called from that being the quarter where the makers of the article congregated, as we know that the same neighbourhood was the resort and seat of other alien industries, while, as regards the likelihood of such a name being bestowed on a church, we have the analogous case of St. Nicholas Flesh-shambles in Newgate Street. The charter of the Company fixed the government at one Master, two Wardens, and twelve Assistants. The fine for admission to the Court, originally io/., has been raised to 56/. 5^., the proceeds of which, invested in lands at Stratford-at-Bow, were in 1633 25/. a year. Three years later, out of corporate money, 21 1. were applied to a municipal assessment for defraying the expenses of the City on account of the coronation of Charles I. The business of the early Scrivener was not confined to writing and conveyancing ; but the profession gradually included the duties of a banker and an agent. Through their original vocation, which brought them into necessary contact with persons of property, they became the factors for those, who had money to invest or estates to deposit as security for pecuniary advances. In achieving success, where great tact and discre- tion were indispensable, comparatively few of course rose beyond a moderate height. But in the time of OLD ARMS. James I. one Abbot monopolized a large share of this employment, so readily susceptible of becoming lucrative under favourable conditions, and at his death left his fortune and interest to his nephew, afterward the celebrated Sir Robert Clayton, and one Morris, of whom the latter, having no issue, bequeathed his share to his partner. Clayton inhabited a noble brick mansion in Old Jewry, where Evelyn was frequently his guest. The Diarist describes the cedar dining-room, painted by Streeter with the History of the Giants' War, and alludes more than once to the vast wealth and princely hospitality of Clayton, who had among his clients and visitors all the leading personages in the kingdom, from the royal family downward. He was Sheriff in 1672 and Mayor in 1679, and served both offices with unsurpassed liberality and magnificence ; he was at this period a member of the Drapers' Company, to which he had translated himself on his accession to the mayoralty. Evelyn notes going to his house, while he was Mayor, with the Countess of Sunderland, and subsequently dining at his table with the Earl of Ossory on a private day ; " but the feast and entertainment," he says, " might have become a king." He purchased at Marden, near Godstone, THE SCRIVENERS. 617 of the Evelyns a tract of land, which he changed at enormous cost from a barren warren into a splendid estate, whither some of the furniture and decorations from the Old Jewry were subsequently removed by the family. But the evolution of the normal Scrivener, though striking, from a mere court-letter-writer into a conveyancer and financial agent, never attained in a second instance the proportions which it fortuitously assumed in the case of Clayton, who combined great capacity with un- rivalled opportunities. Clayton was in fact during the whole of his earlier life a Scrivener by calling and freedom, but in reality a banker and financier on the largest scale, and, as we have stated, a Draper by transfer. At Drapers' Hall there is a fine portrait of him by Kneller in his official robes, with the mace lying on a table by him. The provincial Scrivener, especially where he was established in a prominent and busy centre, soon grew into lucrative practice, and be- came a member, like his London contemporary, of a Livery Gild, or at least of a religious and social Brotherhood. In the I5th century, the Scriveners of York bore their part in the series of miracle plays exhibited in that city ; the subject selected by them was the Incredulity of St. Thomas. One employment of the Scrivener, though possibly confined to juniors, was superseded by the progress of education ; it was that of making out or certifying accounts, where the transaction involved matter of record ; and it is also shown by an entry in the Vintners' Books under 1 507, that the members of this craft were the persons who translated into English, for the information and use of those concerned, charters and other docu- ments originally written in other languages. The modern Scrivener has returned to the lines, which originally limited his employment and competence. He does not fulfil any duties outside those of a notary and writer ; and the law-stationers frequently undertake the latter branch of the profession. The outlets, which a wholly different distribution of commercial industry lent to the more enterprising members of this calling, no longer exist. The decline in the affairs of the Company probably commenced during the lifetime of Sir Robert Clayton, who had, as we know, severed his connection with it some time before his death. In 1703 the Hall in Noble Street, acquired in 1631 (with other property) for 8io/., was sold to the Coach and Coach Harness Makers under cir- cumstances already explained. An unsuccessful attempt was made to procure an Act of Parliament compelling all conveyancers to take up the freedom. 6l8 THE MINOR COMPANIES. From the rent of the remaining estate in Noble Street,1 dividends on savings, and internal income, combined with frugal expenditure, the Scriveners succeed, however, in maintaining their ground, and increasing their capital out of surplus income compatibly with occasional dona- tions to charities ; and had it not been for their failure to sustain their pretensions in regard to the Irish property, their financial position at the present time would have been considerably stronger. It appears from some evidence given in May, 1883, by the Clerk to the Company before the Royal Commission, that so far back, as January 10, 1626, this Gild believed that in acquiring by purchase out of its own funds an allotment from the Skinners of their Irish estate, they had be- come the absolute owners of the fee, and formed the expectation that from the accruing profits they would be enabled to erect a Hall and carry out other works and repairs. A member of the Court of Assist- ants at this time was the father of Milton, and his signature is among those appended to a resolution to the said effect. Thus the same misunderstanding, which arose between the Skinners and their other partners in this business, existed equally here ; but the present Company was in less capable hands, and did not act with the same firmness. If the Scriveners had succeeded in their pretensions, their claim against the tenant-in-chief would have amounted by analogy to nearly 2O,ooo/. On the other hand, they have profited by the excel- lent management of the Skinners, and derive a very handsome yearly return for their original outlay. For the seven years, ending in August, 1830, the Company returned its average annual income at 429/. to the Royal Commission of 1834 ; but through investment from time to time of surplus internal income and the rise in the value of the Irish estate, in which it is interested, the receipts shew a considerable advance, although since 1874 there has been a decline from the maximum. The Livery, which affords a certain criterion of the standing of these bodies, and which here was prescriptive and unlimited, has fluctuated at different periods. In 1699 it was 45; in 1724, 37; in 1739, 53; in 1882, 22 ; and in 1892, 50. In the present case, the numbers are kept up by the provision of the Act 41 George III. cap. 79, s. 13, requiring every notary 1 Nos. 12, 13, 14, and 15. The original deed of conveyance has not survived ; but in a lease of 1864 the property is specified as " All those four messuages or tenements situate and being in Noble Street in the parish of St. Mary Steyning, in the City of London, fronting towards the west on the said street, two of which said messuages or tenements are situate on the north side and two on the south side of the great gateway or entry leading out of Noble Street aforesaid to Coachmakers' Hall, and one of which said messuages or tenements extends over the said gateway." THE SHIPWRIGHTS. 619 public within the City and its Liberties to belong to the Company. 1739 the Livery fine was 5/. ; in 1882, 157. 2s. ; in 1892, is/. 15^. In LITERARY NOTICES. The Case of the Free Scriveners of London : Set forth in A Report from a Com- mittee of the Court of Assistants of the Company of Scriveners, London : To the Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the Company. At their Court holden the 23rd Day of June, 1748. 410, 1749. Reprinted in Parliamentary Return of 1884, Scriveners' Company, Appendix A, The Incredulity of St. Thomas : One of the series of miracle-plays, acted by the Scriveners of York. Printed from the original MS (fifteenth century) in Croft's Excerpta Antiqtia, 1797, by Collier, in the Camden Miscellany, vol. iv., and in the collective edition of the Plays. Ube OUR earliest information respecting this Company reaches us in. the shape of a reference to Ordinances devised for the government of the Gild as an unchartered body in 1428, 1456, and 1483. The Shipwrights who, from the very nature of their Craft, bespeak themselves of great antiquity, appear at the outset to have been a Brotherhood of SS. Simon and Jude, established at the river side in Southwark or Bermondsey ; and in 1661 it claimed an existence of four centuries. The Ordinances rehearse that it is not unknown to all the brethren and sisters that 1 See A Short Account of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights. By Reginald R. Sharpe, B.C.L. 410, 1876. 62O THE MINOR COMPANIES. the Fraternity of SS. Simon and Jude hath been holden in London by the Craft of Shipwrights time out of mind ; they chiefly deal with apprenticeship and other points of internal government ; but they also contain an injunction to members to view and search that the brethren of that Fraternity do use in their said trades good and seasonable timber, and do their work workmanlike as appertaineth. In 1428 we find that Robert Proufote and John James were sworn Masters of the Mistery. At this time and long after, the religious side was very prominent ; and in the Company's Repertory or Minute-Book, commencing with 1456, the opening passage or entry is : " The yeare of thincarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ One thousand fower hundred fiftie and six, and the yere of Kinge Henrie the sixt after the conquest the five and thirteth is founded and ordeyned by the artificers of Ship- wrights in the Citie of London a fraternitie in the worshipp of Saint Symon and Jude, and the feaste of the same yearelie to be solempnized by the same artificers perpetuallie through the grace of God and helpe of devotion of Christen people to be kept and augmented and there - uppon diverse Articles appointed as followeth hereafter." We only know, or at least infer, that bye-laws were framed in 35 Henry VI. from an allusion to them in a petition from the Company in or about 1613 to the Corporation. There mention occurs of " certen ordynaunces instituted for the good government of the said Guilde in the xxxvth yere of the reigne of King Henry the sixt [extant in Guildhall] " ; but nothing further is ascertainable of such a code. Like other muniments of the Company, it may occur in some unexpected manner, or it may have been lost in the Fire of 1666. The Association obtained a charter,1 23 April, 1605, 3 James I. under the title of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of the Art or Mistery of Shipwrights, London. The governing body seems to have originally consisted of a Master, two Wardens, and sixteen Assistants, without a Livery. The Court has comprised since 1777 a Master, four Wardens, and about twenty-five Assistants. In 1830 the Livery was extended to 200 ; and in 1892, according to Whitaker, it numbered 245. The power of search, presumably conferred by the instrument of 1605, was exercised at least down to 1746. A grant of arms was made to the Shipwrights by Camden Clarencieux in 1605, almost concurrently with the charter, and is at present in the Company's possession. It had been long mislaid, and was at last dis- 1 This is now in the Record Office. In the Accounts for 1661 are charges paid for searching for it in the Tower and at the Rolls ; but it was not recovered till 1782. See Sharpe, pp. 7, 17. THE SHIPWRIGHTS. 621 covered (Colonel Sewell, Clerk to the Company, informs us) by accident in the hands of children in a nursery. But they had luckily not had time to exercise their ingenuity upon it ; and it is in perfect preservation. It happened, a few years after the incor- poration that the King, with that remarkable alacrity for acceding to any proposal involving a pecuniary advantage, which he and his son equally displayed, accorded a charter (May 6, i6i2)1to the foreign shipwrights, who were located in the same neighbourhood, and that the latter attempted, by virtue of the power alleged to vest in them thereby, to levy dues on the older Fraternity. The difficulty and friction lasted from 1613 to 1683 in spite of decisions by the Court of Aldermen, the Lords of the Council, and the Admiralty in favour of the present Company ; and one result appears to have been, that the corporate funds were during nearly the whole of this lengthened interval at a very low ebb. Nevertheless in 1660 the Gild found io/. 3^. 6d. toward the cost of celebrating the coronation of Charles II. by the civic authorities. It appears that it was subsequently to 1605, that the Shipwrights migrated from the Surrey side,2 where they lay not very far from the foreign settlement at Rotherhithe, to the Middlesex shore at a point near RatclifTe St. Mary ; for the report of the Select Committee ap- pointed to inquire about 1615 into the question in dispute between the Free and Foreign bodies, explicitly states that the former had always preserved their freedom of the City, even after they were compelled to leave their yards adjoining the River Thames, and to cross the River, without the City's Liberties, to Ratcliffe. The practical conclusion of the attempt of the Foreign Shipwrights to override the others was their failure, in 1683, to obtain a new charter with enlarged powers. The City did its part toward the support of the pretensions of the Company in more than one way. In 1620, it passed a set of Ordinances for the more effectual management of the affairs of the mistery. As early as 1631, it permitted it to admit twelve members by redemption, and in 1 66 1 as many more. It gave it a Livery (1782), and enlarged it (1830) from 100 to 200 with a fine of 2i/. It passed (1808) an Act obliging all 1 Now in the Record Office. 8 The Shipwrights may have removed farther away, as the population within the Liberties increased, for the same reason that the Ironmongers, Founders, and other noisy or troublesome businesses established themselves on the outskirts of the City. 622 THE MINOR COMPANIES. persons engaged in the trade to become freemen. Yet the Shipwrights can never be said to have possessed a substantial constitution ; and they survive at the present moment mainly by the artificial scale of charges, which they impose upon members, the fee for coming on the Court being 5/. "with well-seasoned and well-matched wain- scot, according to a model delivered in." From 1667 to the present time the Hall has been occasionally let or lent to various public bodies for sundry purposes. The Surgeons' Com- pany were permitted to use it in 1745, provided that no dissecting oper- ORIGINAL COMMON SEAL, LOST IN THE GREAT FIRE. 1 In 1671 the Company sold the property to Sir William Turner for 42O/. 2 This part of the purchase was afterward resold. 3 " The Book of Martyrs was frequently reprinted, and was so highly appreciated that, when in 1631 it was out of print, some persons of quality, being desirous that it might be reprinted for the general good of the kingdom, threatened to print it themselves, if the Company did not immediately issue a fresh edition. A copy of the best paper, ruled, bound in Turkey leather gilt, with the King's arms stamped on it, was presented to His Most Excellent Majesty Charles the Second in 1660, as a token of the Company's duty and submission to his royal person and govern- me n t." — Rivington. 4 Mr. Rivington presumes that they were in the custody of the Clerk at his house on Clerkenwell Green. 636 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ations were conducted there. It has been at intervals the scene of concerts, lotteries, Freemasons' meetings, and complimentary dinners. The long obsolete usage, by which each retiring Master gave the Fellowship a piece of plate of fourteen ounces weight at the least, may be taken to have been one dating at all events from the foundation of the Company, as the collection is shown by the extant inventory to have included a silver-gilt spoon presented by Thomas Dockwray, first Master. It is not pleasant to have to add that all these treasures, consisting of spoons (one dated September 11, 1560), salt-cellars, bowls, and cups, were sold to meet financial exigencies in 1643, to Mr. Nowell, a goldsmith, in Foster Lane, except Mr. Hulet's standing cup. Owing to the fortunate escape of the registers in 1666, the Company possesses not only the entries of publications which have been printed from 1557 down to 1640 by Professor Arber, but its account-books from the commencement. The earliest of the series was presented by a member of the Court ; and each side of the leather binding, which is well preserved, is embellished with the figures of animals. The volume opens with the receipts and disbursements of the Master and Wardens from 1554 to 1557. Thomas Berthelet, the eminent printer, was Master in the former year, but died within the twelvemonth ; and his wife Margery gave the Company 1 3^. 4^., " for a rewarde for comynge to the sayde Barthelet his buryall." Not the least curious feature in the Court Records is the account of suppressed works, and of incidents connected with the trade. In 1595 various little French books and other printed matter were burned by order of the Primate. In 1602 Stow was awarded 3/. and forty copies for his pains in the Survey of London ,v and 2os. and fifty copies for his pains in the Brief Chronicle. Under 1614 his Grace of Canterbury directs the suppression of Raleigh's History of the World. The same fate befalls Lithgow's Travels in 1616. In 1634 Prynne's Histriomastix is erased from the books. In 1646 The Women's Parliament* is sup- pressed, "being very lewdly written, and tending to corrupt youth." The original MS. and whole impression of Buchanan's History of Scot- land are seized. An enumeration of the more distinguished members of the Gild al- most amounts to a rehearsal of the already familiar names of our cele- 1 Compare Merchant Taylors' Company, supra, p. 271. 2 If this refers to the Ladies' Parliament by Henry Nevile [1647], the proceeding was not unwarranted, as the tract is extremely coarse. A copy is among the King's Pamphlets in the British Museum. But the piece entitled The Parliament of Women, 1640, 1646, 1656, etc., is not specially exceptionable. THE STATIONERS. 637 MARK OF RICHARD TOTTEI.L. brated printers and publishers from the closing years of the fifteenth century. It is highly probable, though there appears to be no distinct evidence of the fact, that both Richard Pynson and Wynkyn de Wordc were among the associates of the unincorpo- rated Fellowship. But we know that Thomas Berthelet, Reginald Wolfe (four times Master), John Cawood, Richard Jugge, Richard Tottell, and other equally famous men belonged to the Company ; and at a later date the roll of worthies embraced the Harrisons, the Days, the Nortons, the Barkers, the Rivingtons, the Nicholses, and many more. It was John Nor- ton who left i.ooo/. in 1612, to be lent to poor young men of the Company, which amount was invested in houses in Wood Street, and now forms part of the endowment of the Stationers' School. We must not overlook Richard Field, son of Henry Field, of Strat- MARK OF JOHN DAY ,^3^. ford-upon-Avon, tanner, Shakespear's fellow- townsman, and the publisher of his youthful productions. Field married the daughter of Thomas Vautrollier, and the poet is supposed to have profited by some of the classical or historical books which proceeded from both presses. Several of these presented during their masterships pieces of plate or sums of money for charitable and general purposes. Sir Thomas Davies, Master in 1668-9, became Lord Mayor in 1677, and on his translation to the Drapers gave his old associates two silver cups. His copy of Stow's Survey of London, 1633, contains an extra leaf with his arms emblazoned in their proper colours, and is in the possession of the writer. Thomas Parkhurst, Master in 1703, by a gift of 37/. to purchase twenty-five Bibles and Psalms for annual distribution, founded the custom of making a donation of a copy of the Scriptures to each apprentice bound at the Hall. The catalogue might be greatly extended ; but we must content our- selves with mentioning Samuel Richardson the novelist, Master in 1754 and Jacob Tonson, great nephew of Dryden's Tonson, and High Sheriff of Surrey in 1750, and Henry Sampson Woodfall, printer of the Letters of Junius. The last was Master in 1797. Besides Sir Thomas Davies, Mayor in 1677, the chief magistracy has been held by other Stationers, in the persons of Sir Stephen Theodore Jansen (1749-50), Thomas Wright (1777), William Gill (i78o)> Jonn Boydell (1783), William Domville (1803), Christopher Magnay (1816), William Venables(i824), John Crowder (1829), John Key (1830), William TITLE-PAGE OF LYDGATE's Vertuc of the Masse. Printed by Wynkyn de Worde. 638 AUTOGRAPHS OF EMINENT STATIONERS OF THE l6TH CENTURY. 639 640 THE MINOR COMPANIES. Magnay (1847), Francis Graham Moon (1855^), Sydney Hedley Water- low (1872), and Francis Wyatt Truscott (1879). Several who did not attain the Mayoralty were members of the Court of Aldermen, and served as Sheriff. Since 1800 three generations of Rivington have held the Clerkship, which involves not merely the ordin- ary business of the Company, but that arising from the English Stock.1 LITERARY NOTICES. The Orders, Eules, and Ordinances, Ordained, Devised, and made by the Master and Keepers or Wardens and Comminalty of the Mystery or Art of Stationers of the City of London, for the well Governing of that Society. 410, 1678, 1682. Charters and Grants of the Company of Stationers of the City of London ; contain- ing an Account of the Freemen's Rights and Privileges ; with an Appendix. 8vo, 1741. A Proclamation of the Queen against the printing of books, ballads, rhymes, and interludes. 18 August, [553. A broadside. Rivington's Stationers' Records, p. 3. A Proclamation of the King and the Queen against Diuers Books. Given at Our Manor of Saint James, the sixth day of June, 1558. Ordinances decreed for reformation of diuers disorders in printing and vttering of Bookes. 29 June, 1566. A broadside. #*# This is a reprint, perhaps about 1620, of the original sheet. A Patent to Rafife Bowes and Thomas Beddingfield to import Playing Cards into this Kingdom for twelve years, and dispose of them in large or small quantities, any Act formerly made notwithstanding. 13 June, 13 Elizabeth [1571]. The Whole Rate of mouldes belonging to the olde forume [? font or form] of plaienge cardes, commonlie called the Frenche Carde, by warrant from Mr. Warden Coldocke. Entered with the Jew Cisian [? douze sixieme] dozen and all other things thereunto belonginge. Entered at Stationers' Hall, to Ralph Bowes, Esquire, Oct. 28, 1588. The Case of the Booksellers Trading beyond the Sea. A broadside. [James I.] A Generall Note of the prises for binding all sorts of bookes, 1619. A broadside. The same. . . . 1646. A broadside. An Abstract of his Maiesties Letters Patent granted unto Roger Wood and Thomas Symcocke, for the sole printing of paper and parchment on the one side. 4to, 1620. To the Most Honourable Assembly of the Commons House of Parliament. The Binders of Bookes in London doe most humblie shew complaining of the Com- pany of Goldbeaters, and of their monopoly of the importation and sale of Gold Foliat. [1621.] A broadside. To the Right Reverend and Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, assembled in Parliament, An abstract of the general grievances of the poore Free- men and Journeymen Printers, oppressed and kept in seruile bondage all their lives by the Vnlawfull Ordinances of the Master and Wardens of the Company, which they fortifie only by a Warrant dormant. A broadside. [About 1630.] 1 The background in Hogarth's print of the Industrious Apprentice, represents the members of the Stationers' Company marching down Paternoster Row, on their return from the Lord Mayor's Show. THE TALLOW CHANDLERS. 64! A Proclamation to inhibite the sale of Latine Bookes reprinted beyond the Seas, hauing been first printed at Oxford or Cambridge. 1625. A broadside. A Decree of the Star-Chamber, concerning Printing, u July, 1637. A broadside. The Humble Petition of the Stationers, Printers, and Booksellers of the Citie of London, on the introduction of a Bill for reducing the Printers to a certain number, and for the avoiding of unskilfull printers. 1641. A broadside. S.intilla, Or, A Light Broken into darke Warehouses. With Observations upon the Monopolists of Seaven severall Patents, and Two Charters. Practised and per- formed by a Mistery of some Printers, Sleeping Stationers and Combining Book- sellers. [By Michael Sparke.] 410, 1641. To the Honourable House of Commons in this present Parliament assembled. The humble Petition of the Company of Stationers of the City of London. [January, 1643.] A broadside. To all Printers, Booke-sellers, Booke-binders, Freemen of the Company of Stationers. 13 June, 1645. A broadside. *#* It may be remarked that there are numerous other publications relative to the press and to printers, but not sufficiently relevant to the Stationers' Company to necessitate or warrant their in- sertion here. ZTbe ZTallow CbanMers. WE do not receive any intelligence of this body before 1426, when it was associated under the style of The Master and Wardens of the Mistery or Craft of Tallow Chandlers, in letters patent of Henry VI. for the search and destruction of all bad or adulterated oils. Here we consequently meet with another instance, where, in the ab- sence of any licence or charter, a commercial Fellowship established itself with a regular organization, and was evidently recognised as such. The acknowledged standing of the Tallow Chandlers is still further con- firmed by a grant of arms1 from John Smert, Garter King of Arms, in 1456 to John Priour, John Thurlow, William Blackman, and Richard Grenecroft, Guardians, and several other notable men of the trade, and 1 Supporters were added in 1602, upon an application to William Camden, Clarencieux King of Arms. •••*•'» r.r 41 642 THE MINOR COMPANIES. of the Company of Tallow Chandlers, or Chandeliers de Suif of the City of London, on behalf of and in the name of their whole confra- ternity, one of the members of the City of London, having sworn War- dens or keepers, and other officers authorized to make, constitute, and put in force among themselves rules and good ordinances for the sepa- rate conduct of their own trade. The Tallow Chandlers, having thus already clothed themselves with many of the attributes of a corporation, thought fit, for the better security of the vocation which they followed, and for the more ample and complete exercise and enjoyment of their powers and position, to proceed in 1462, 2 Edward IV., to the crowning step of procuring a charter from the King. The instrument is dated March 8, and is directed "To OLD ARMS. our beloved and faithful subjects, the Freemen of the Mistery or Art of Talough Chaundelers of our City of London." It confirms, rather than confers, certain rights and privileges in relation to the choice of officers, the power of holding realty, a common seal, the title to sue and be sued in courts, a licence in mortmain to ten marks a year,1 and the liberty of search and correction. Of all these matters the grant was a recognition ; as the Gild had manifestly assumed authority and jurisdiction to the full extent of the royal concession, save the licence in mortmain and the common seal. There is no mention of a Livery even in 1462, yet this, again, existed at that time almost beyond doubt; and in 1501-2 is returned as thirty- six. It was possibly considered as falling under the general sanction of established forms and practices. In 1469, within a very short space after the incorporation, the Company was able to supply to the City Watch the large quota of sixty men, and in 1515 it was officially ranked as twenty-first in order.2 The charter was renewed by succeeding sovereigns (November 15, 1517, 8 Henry VIII. ; February 18, 1549, 2 Edward VI.; June 7, 1557, 4 and 5 Philip and Mary; March 3, 1561, 3 Elizabeth; and March 6, 1606, 3 James I.). Letters patent of James I. March 6, 1620, confirmed the Tallow Chandlers in all their lands and hereditaments theretofore 1 This was enlarged in 1831, 1856, and 1865, to enable the Gild to hold more recent accessions of property in trust, including that accruing under the will of Mr. Roger Monk in 1831. 2 In the grant by Camden of supporters to the Arms in 1602, it is laid down "that the Company are to take their place after their ancientry at all feasts and other solemn processions as the seventeenth Company of the City, which he found, according to the date of their patent, to be anciently recorded." THE TALLOW CHANDLERS. 643 acquired, and finally settled all controversy as to the possessions in Dowgate Ward, the Hall doubtless included.1 The power of search, which was successively fixed at two and three miles' compass from the City, formed the subject-matter of two or three public acts, beginning with an indenture of 1559, in which existing letters patent of Elizabeth are cited. The latter are no longer known ; but they probably corresponded with others of April 15, 1577, where the Company is empowered to search for, weigh, and measure all soap, vinegar, barrelled butter, salt, oils, and hops within the City and suburbs, and mark all good vessels with the Rose and Crown Imperial. By Act of Parliament the Wardens were further entitled to seize and destroy all adulterated and spurious oils ; but the legislation is said to have proved inoperative, because no reward was offered on conviction to the informers. From the Drapers' accounts of 1516 it is inferable that the Tallow Chandler of those days, in addition to his own special wares, dealt in a multifarious assortment of domestic necessaries, such as mustard, red and white vinegar, verjuice, oatmeal, fine salt, packthread, lathes, gally- pots and pans, and brooms. We here recognise the parentage of the modern chandler's shop and its almost inexhaustible resources. During the former half of the seventeenth century, the Company appears to have maintained an excellent ground among the bodies of secondary rank. It joined the Drapers as a sub-sharer in the Ulster project, and so far occupied the exceptional position of being not merely the only coparcener, but of offering the sole instance in which one of the great Companies associated itself thus exclusively with one of the minor. In 1629, to a municipal assessment the Tallow Chandlers exhibited a gauge of their comparative prosperity by a contribution of I2/. iSs. It is more difficult to divine the source of the commercial intimacy be- tween the present Fraternity and the Drapers than that between its members or Executive and the Salters, where salt is continually specified as one of the articles over which the Tallow Chandlers exercised control, and in which they dealt ; and, in fact, the most ancient ordinances of the latter, while they still remained unincorporated, were drawn up in conjunc- tion with the other Gild, being described as " Ordinances of the Salters and Tallow Chandlers."2 The two Societies were evidently at one epoch in rather close relations ; and we shall see that their head-quarters and Halls were adjacent. 1 Not, we apprehend, the property held to superstitious uses, within the meaning of the Act of Edward VI., for of such there is no trace, the trust-estate being of purely modern origin. 2 Compare p. 295, supra. These ordinances were most probably the reduction to form of a compact between the two Fellowships. 644 THE MINOR COMPANIES. Beyond the Ordinances above-mentioned, the Tallow Chandlers possess one set of bye-laws, framed and approved in 1639, and extending to no fewer than sixty-six articles. They deal with points of internal government, as elections, which are appointed to be held on the day of the feast of St. John the Baptist, or within twenty days thereof, the Master, in cases of an equality of votes, having a casting voice or prick on the paper : fines, Livery, oaths, election-dinners : the duties and powers of the two Wardens of the Yeomanry, who were to provide at their own cost four quarter-suppers in the common Hall : the choice of Whifflers, or associates from among the junior members, to attend and wait upon the rest : the appointment of a Beadle : the provision of a common chest : the conditions under which search could be conducted and the payment of search-money by persons of other Companies, who pursued the trade of a maker or seller of candles : and the ordinary stipulations as to apprenticeship. The Yeomanry clearly constituted a very important and influential element, and possessed their own parlour with two locks and keys kept by their Wardens, and an independent store of plate, pewter, linen, and other effects, which, by one of the clauses, were to be surrendered in the contingency of the dissolution or suspension of the separate Executive at any time. The voluminous character of the bye-laws of 1639 may be construed into an evidence of the substantial standing of the body, whose members they affected and governed ; and probably we haVe now reached the period when the Company was at the zenith of its power. The Civil War and the Great Fire combined to weaken it ; and perhaps the more general employment of wax for candles formed an additional cause of decline. The charter of 28 Charles II., July 29, 1677, expressly dwells on the increase of buildings in London and on the number of hands engaged in the candle manufacture, but at the same time speaks of the diminution of the Company. It recognised and allowed all its rights and privileges, and made it obligatory on all members of the trade within a three miles' radius to take up the Freedom. This, with the exception of the general Quo Warmnto episode and its normal consequences, concludes the transactions with the Crown. The right of search has not been put in force since 1709, and it has become optional on the part of freemen to come upon the Livery. The government consists of the Master, Deputy Master, four Wardens, and fifteen Assistants ; but the number of the Court is not defined by the charters and bye-laws. In 1699 tne Livery was returned as 113, in 1724 as 178, in 1882 as about 120, and in 1892 as 102. The Livery THE TALLOW CHANDLERS. 645 fine, which in 1639 was 3/. 6s. 8^., is at present 2//. $s. od., and that for the Court 2OO/. The trust income is about 22O/ a year ; but of the corporate receipts there are no particulars. They are probably not much larger than they were in 1882. But they enable the Company to pay about 4.00!. in salaries, besides taxes and other incidental outlays ; and while in 1620 it was thought desirable to quiet the title to certain London properties — probably the Hall and other messuages destroyed in the Fire — by incurring the charges attendant on special letters patent for that pur- pose, the new licences in mortmain obtained in 1856 and 1865 appear to have been connected with fresh corporate acquisitions. The Tallow Chandlers gave 3157. by three instalments to the City and Gilds' Institute. Tallow Chandlers' Hall on Dowgate Hill, to which there is repeated reference in the bye-laws of 1639, but of the antecedents and origin of which we learn next to nothing, was destroyed in the Fire with the other freeholds named in the Patent of 1620, rebuilt in 1672, and thoroughly restored on the 17th-century model in 1871. A portion of the ancient quadrangle has been let for building, and doubtless constitutes, with a few rents and the fines and fees, the actual private revenue. There is no room to question that this neighbourhood was the seat of the industry from very remote times, and that Candlewick Street 1 derived its name from this source, as Scaldingwike in the Poultry did from an analogous circumstance. The Hall was at once situated in convenient proximity to the works where the manufacture was carried on and to the water-way, which equally brought the raw material, and helped to distribute the produce. 1 Stow (edit., 1633) says that in old records he had seen it spelled Candlewright Street, and adds that it was the place where candles, both of wax and tallow, were made. Yet the two productions seem to have been always kept distinct. 646 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ZTbe ZEin^plate Workers, EVIDENCES of the great antiquity of this craft and art, which were known to the Romans, and possibly introduced by them to us, have been found in excavations of Anglo-Saxon remains, belonging to the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. The material was employed for a variety of purposes, including the metallic fittings of wooden utensils and implements of war or appliances for the protection of the person, as for example in the bosses of shields, as well as for the coating of coins and other small objects. The Tin-plate Workers are supposed to have originally been an offshoot from the Girdlers, when the centralizing movement, which had at first operated so powerfully in combining branches of the same trade in one body and government, experienced a reaction, and a series of minor industries, such as this before us and several others, subdivided themselves into independent unions and Companies. But the first intimation of the present Fraternity occurs in the reign of Edward IV., where, under the appellation of Wire Workers, it associated itself with the Pinners, and kept its accounts in the same books or ledgers. In 1569 this bipartite body took advantage of the incorporation of the Girdlers to seek shelter beneath their charter. There is considerable difficulty in ascertain- ing whether or how far the Tin-plate Workers are to be regarded as the representatives of the Wire Sellers and Wire Drawers, as well as of the Wire Workers. At various periods we find mention of communities bearing these several names ; and it is not easy to avoid surmising that the allusions are to one and the same industry. In 1469, for instance, the Wire Drawers are said to OLD ARMS. THE TIN-PLATE WORKERS. 647 furnish two men to the City Watch; while in 1501-2 a municipal return gives the Wire Sellers a prescriptive Livery of twelve. Again, although the Wire Workers and Pinners were so intimately connected in the fifteenth century, and apparently employed one place of business, they never present themselves together in returns or other- wise ; nor were the former, on the amalgamation with the Girdlers, 10 Elizabeth, specified in the charter by name. Later in the same reign, the Pinners were evidently independent, and then or soon after owned their own Hall ; and in 1636 they secured a separate charter. But of the Wire Workers we gain no tidings, until in 1670, 22 Charles II., it is on record that they, too, were incorporated, and in 1678 possessed bye-laws. The affairs are managed by a Master, two Wardens, and eight Assist- ants. The trust income consists of the interest on i,i45/., derived under the wills of Mr. John Miers and Mr. John White ; the proceeds of the former bequest, which are applied in pensions, are augmented by grants out of the Company's own funds from quarter to quarter ; and with the latter (i,ooo/.) it has been proposed to erect almshouses. Of the corpor- ate estate no particulars are forthcoming. A fine of 3i/. los. is payable by each liveryman on his election to the Court ; but no charges are made, as in other cases, on promotion to the higher offices. In 1882 the Livery was returned as about 77, in 1892, as 71. The Company has organized two Exhibitions of Tin and \Vire Work at its own expense since 1878. 648 THE MINOR COMPANIES. ZTurners. THE few scattered notices relative to this Company almost exclusively belong" to the epoch anterior to incorporation. In 1310 several Turners at different addresses in the City were sworn to make no other measures than gallons, pottles, and quarts, and no false measures, as chopyns and gills, either in the form of boxes or otherwise. It may be worth while to add that these persons were Henry the Turner, dwelling in Wood Street ; Richard the Turner, John the Turner in St. Swithin's Lane, Candlewick Street ; William the Turner, without the Gate of Bishopsgate, and Richard le Corveiser, dwelling in Wood Street. They were perhaps the leading or even only members of the calling in London at that date, and with one exception they derived their surname from their business. ^ ^ ^ mf^ In 1347, it was found requisite to place some further restrictions on the Turners of London in regard to the material of which they made their liquid measures, which were often of unseasoned wood, and also to regulate the marks upon them, which were to be placed on the bottom of each vessel outside. The measures were at the same time OLD CREST OR to agree witn tne standard of the Ward, in which it COGNIZANCE. was proposed to sell and use them. Some false utensils of this kind were burned in Cheapside in 1370 near the Stone Cross. THE TURNERS. 649 An order of the Court of Aldermen, prescribing the prices to be paid to various persons or trades for supplies to be presented to the King in 1418 in aid of the operations against Rouen, mentions 2,500 wooden cups or mugs, for which the Turners were to receive 4.$. per hundred, or loos, altogether. They were for the use of the troops forming the siege. These drinking-vessels of wood, turned on the lathe, also entered into the regular stock of the early innholder, and before they were more generally made of silver, passed through the intermediate stage of being simply bound or mounted with that metal. The call for such articles on the part of the retailers of wine and beer, as well as presumably for military and other public purposes, cannot have failed to constitute a very valuable element in the turners' business, before pewter and earthen- ware were brought into general use. The first and only known charter of the Company was granted June 12, 1604, and conferred a licence in mortmain to the value of 2O/. a year beyond all charges and reprises, which has never been exercised ; the right of search in London and within five miles radius, which has long fallen into disuse, since the City divested the Turners of the power of marking vessels ; and other usual privileges. No bye-laws appear to have been drawn up till 1823. The Executive is composed of a Master, an Upper and Renter Warden, and twenty-four Assistants. The Livery is unlimited. In 1699, it stood at 112; in 1724, at 127 ; in 1882, at 239 ; and in 1892, at 193. There is no trust property, and the corporate estate, which was re- turned in 1882 as 7i8/., and in 1892 as 7oo/., arises from fees, fines, and interest on 1,7877. Scinde Railway Stock, the last-named source being probably the product of the sale of the Hall, which formerly existed on College Hill. There is source for the apprehension that the financial position of the Company will not improve. Since 1870 there have been annual Exhibitions of Turners' Work at the Mansion House, the outlay involved in the first year being entirely defrayed by Mr. Secondary Potter, then Master, and since that time by voluntary subscriptions from Lady Burdett Coutts, Mr. Samuel Morley, M.P., and many others. The prizes awarded, and usually distributed by the Lord Mayor, are for the best specimens of work under the following categories :— 1. Beauty of design, symmetry of shape, and utility 'and general excellence of work- tnanship. 2. Exact copying, so that two objects produced (such as two cups, vases, boxes, or other articles) may be facsimiles in every part, as well as in measure of capacity. 3. Fitness of the work and design for the purpose proposed, as, for instance, turned vvoik for portions of domestic or church furniture. 6 SO THE MINOR COMPANIES. 4. Ability to turn, whether circular or oval, both in hard and soft wood. 5. Novelty in application or in design. *% Carving and polishing are admissible, and, if skilfully done, any additional effect produced will be considered ; but it must be subsidiary to the turning. Ube U^lers ant) Bricfela^ets. THE substitution of tiles for thatch in City houses necessarily tended to develope the Tylers' industry. After the Fire of 1212, the roofs of reed or rush, which were then general, were declared unlawful, and were to be replaced with tiles and other material. But of course the system was not altered either with promptitude or with uniformity. In 1245, a further order was published by the Mayor, that all houses in the prin- cipal thoroughfares should be covered in future with slates or tiles. In 1302, we find Thomas Bat indemnifying the City from peril in respect of his property in St. Laurence Parish, Cannon Street, and agreeing to tile the roofs of the premises by the ensuing Pentecost. The early English bricklayer, who belonged to the Gild of Tylers and Bricklayers, was not an operative, but an employer of operatives, often on a very large scale. He was the contractor for the entire brickwork of a structure, as we see in the negotiations and estimates for rebuilding or restoring some of the Halls after the Fire. For instance, it is easy to see in the account of the arrangements for making good the portions of Goldsmiths' Hall in 1666, that Mr. Burridge the bricklayer plays a prominent and responsible part, and had all that share of the contract to carry out under the supervision of Jarman the architect. Luck the bricklayer and Bell the carpenter seem to have similarly treated for the principal portion of the work of restoration at Painter-Stainers' Hall after the Fire, when the designs had been approved. Doubtless, the colleague of Jack Straw in the rebellion or riot in 1381, consequent on the enforcement of a poll-tax, was a member of this Brotherhood at a period prior to its incorporation with the Bricklayers in 1568. He was not a peasant or a labourer, but a master-tyler ; and much in the same way Stow and Speed the historians were rather THE TYLERS AND BRICKLAYERS. 6j I members of the Merchant-Taylors' Gild than tailors in our modern con- ventional sense. It is usually represented by the biographers of Benjamin Jonson that his stepfather was a working bricklayer, and obliged the future poet to follow the trade for a brief time. But, from all the known associations of Jonson, this statement and notion seem to be eminently improbable ; and the far more likely case is, that the mother's second husband was a member of the Company, and that the poet became free by patrimony. It may have been through this channel that Jonson became acquainted with Inigo Jones, who, as a professional architect, might have come into contact with the elder Jonson in the ordinary way of business, as he would take the entire contract for brickwork in new buildings. The Tylers and Bricklayers were in fact specially excluded from the pro- visions of the scheme prepared in 1636 for establishing a Gild of Re- tailers of London and Suburbs. The followers of these vocations were, in fact, regarded as contractors rather than shopkeepers. We have to traverse centuries without meeting more than the most occasional and fortuitous in- formation respecting the body whose name stands at the head of the present article. In 1501-2, an official list assigns it a customary Livery of 22, and in 1515 it is ranked as the 38th Company, though unincorporated. Again, at the Mayor's Feast in 1551-2 it was represented by one member, besides OLD ARMS. the Wardens, and was allotted a single mess. These statistics establish the possession during the fifteenth and first moiety of the following century of substantial rank and resources ; yet, like many other Associations, the Tylers and Bricklayers do not seem to have been anxious to consolidate themselves to any further extent by the agency of a charter; and when at last, in 1568, they obtained one, it conferred, so far as we can judge, very little beyond existing pre- scriptive rights and executive powers. It was succeeded by the publication of Ordinances in 1570 and in 1571, curiously enough, by a second charter from Elizabeth, authorizing the search for defective bricks, tiles, and other cognate material, the appointment of a Beadle and a Clerk, the administration of oaths, regu- lations for apprentices, and other points. Both here and in the ante- cedent grant the customary title to frame and impose rules for the government of the Fraternity is said to have been vested in the Wardens or Custodes time out of mind. The charters of 1568 and 1571, with a third of James I., dated from Gorhambury, April 20, 1604, constitute the entire recognised series, as that of James II. was involved in the THE MINOR COMPANIES. common operation of the Act of 1690. The grant of 1604 specifies a common seal, a licence in mortmain, the faculty of suing and being sued, the election of officers (a Master and two Wardens), the levy of fines, and the correction of bad work in London and over a radius of fifteen miles. Besides the bye-laws of 1570-86, which have been lately printed, it is augurable from a printed document of 1614, cited below, that others were framed on the lines of the charter of 1604 5 and the Company was affected by an order of the Court of Common Council, July I, 1658, and a royal one of January 25, 1723. The government, following the acting charter of 1604, consists of a Master, an Upper Warden, a Renter Warden, and twenty Assist- ants. The Renter is elected from the Livery, the others from the Court. We have noticed that in 1302 there was a prescriptive Livery of 22. In 1699 the numbers were officially returned as 73 ; in 1724, as 99 ; in 1882, as 78 ; and in 1892, as 73. In 1882 there were about 90 on the Freedom. In 1834 the income was stated to be about 6oo/. a year ; and at that time the Company included many members of the trade. In 1882 and 1892 the receipts amounted to about 67O/., not reckoning ijQl trust estate. During the ten years 1870-79 there does not seem to have been much fluctuation; but it was anticipated in 1882, that when certain leases of the property in the City and suburbs fell in, the figures would improve ; and the good intentions of the Executive may, under such circumstances, be more fully exercised in the direction of educational grants. An important factor in the returns is the house No. 22, Throg- morton Street, of which the term will expire about 1895, and which was let in 1 88 1 at I25/. reserved rent, and 2,2OO/. fine. One item in the yearly revenue is a sum of about 4/., derived from a sub-share in the Vintners' Irish manor. The payment represents little more than four per cent, on the outlay of 8o/. in 1615, and must there- fore be said to have been a rather poor investment, looking at the returns of the Salters and Skinners. The character of the contribution, at the same time, imports at that juncture comparative prosperity, and in 1629 the quota found for the civic arrangements for celebrating the coronation of Charles I.— 4/. 6s. — argues a fair medium standing. Comprised in the Leadenhall estate is the former Hall of the Com- pany, now occupied by the City of London College. The building lay at the western extremity of Aldgate ward, not far from Fletchers' and Ironmongers' Halls. It is mentioned by Stow and Maitland ; but of its early history nothing is recorded. It escaped the fire in 1666, and the THE UPHOLDERS OR UPHOLSTERS. 653 Coopers met here for some time, while their own seat of business was unavailable. The property at Wapping is believed to have been received from some member of the Gild connected with Chipping Norton, to the church- wardens of which place 4/. a year are payable in respect of that portion taken by the St. Katharine's Docks Company and now represented by 799/. I2s. Consols. Finally, the Tylers and Bricklayers hold in trust certain houses at Islington, where their Almshouses are situated, and a rent-charge at Whitechapel, acquired under the will of Francis Field in 1669. The rents are applied to the support of poor freemen and their widows, and are occasionally supplemented by votes from the corporate funds. The date of the grant of arms and supporters is not known to us. The bearings are given by Wallis in London s Armoury, 1677, as those of the Bricklayers alone. LITERARY NOTICES. The Petition Of the Tylers and Bricklayers of London, praying that it may be enacted that the Assize of Bricke and Tyle and the measure of Lyme and Sand, may be observed in London and in all places within fifteene miles compasse thereof, according to the Ordinances established by the Master and Wardens of the Company of Tylers and Bricklayers of London. [1614.] A broadside. The Idol of the Clowns ; or, the Insurrection of Wat the Tyler. By Francis White, of Gray's Inn. I2mo, 1654. **# In Harl. MS. 6466 occur the statutes of the Tylers of Coventry, made in the i4th century. TUpbolfcers or lUpbolsters. ARMS (FROM STOW, 1633). ARMS, 1739. THE Upholders were originally dealers in second-hand clothes, and were otherwise called Fripperers. They are particularly noticed as having occupied the shops in and about Cornhill, when these were vacated, toward the close of the fourteenth century, by the Drapers. Stow (Survey, 1633) adopts the latter form of the name. 654 TIIE MINOR COMPANIES. An official document of 1532 denominates them the Clothing Up- holders. But it would seem from the ancient and intimate relationship between the Upholders and the Skinners, that the former applied themselves at the beginning, at least, more particularly to some branch of the trade in peltry, perhaps to the purchase and resale of second-hand skins and furs. It is obvious from an inventory, which exists among the City Records, of the stock of Stephen le Northerne in 1356, that he was not an iron- monger, as Riley names him, but a store-dealer, since the contents indicate a commerce in cushions, portable cupboards, curtains, weighing machines, wooden bedsteads and testers, feather beds, sheets, carpets, chequer-boards, doublets (paltoks), armour, planks, combs, shoe-horns, jordans, and other miscellaneous utensils or commodities. On the other hand, there is a large assortment of ironmongery for domestic, industrial, and farming or gardening purposes : trivets, sledge-hammers, puncheons, augers, pitchforks, ship-hinges, latches and bolts, goldsmiths' anvils, andirons, hatchets, pickaxes, and a variety of such items, some under archaic designations, which are not readily identifiable ; one of the articles is said to be " worn out." This was our modern broker's shop. It was situated in the parish of St. Michael, Cornhill, where at one period the upholders or fripperers, as Stow tells us, concentrated themselves. The trade had begun to settle in Cornhill before the time of Lydgate probably, as in his London Lickpenny, written about 1425, he refers to the loss of his hood in the crowd at Westminster and its exposure for sale shortly after at a dealer's in the more easterly quarter. He in fact charges the mistery with being habitual receivers of stolen goods. Riley appears to consider that the original upholder was also an undertaker ; and it may be that, from being at first a fripperer, as Stow terms him, or dealer in second-hand clothes and other goods, he in some cases rose to the dignity of a furniture-warehouseman, who still combines with that business the function of attendance upon funerals. The furniture-dealer suffered a further evolution, and became a cabinet- maker, or at least a cabinet-maker's salesman. The members of this fraternity, by a natural drift toward the exten- sion of a not very definite class of commerce, gradually became pawn- brokers, costumiers, and wardrobe-men. They purchased cast-off clothing, took goods in pledge,1 as the Goldsmiths did on a different 1 Cases are recorded of the officers of one or two of the minor Gilds, under pecuniary stress or otherwise, hypothecating the corporate effects. THE UPHOLDERS OR UPHOLSTERS. 655 scale, and lent apparel on hire. The Companies which were deficient in Livery-gowns, procured them here, and the Wardens occasionally sold, in satisfaction of quarterages, the gowns of defaulting members at these rather incongruous and not too inquisitive establishments. Yet, whatever may have been the incidence of their vocation, the present body undoubtedly rose at an early date to high consideration, and acquired a substantial standing among the minor Gilds of the City. In 1465 they obtained a grant of arms. Four years later, they con- tributed to the City Watch four-and-twenty guards ; and in 1479, Sir Bartholomew James, son of Edward James, Citizen and Upholder was Lord Mayor. There had evidently been a lapse of more than a century and a half, during which the Upholder steadily maintained his ground as a mer- chant and as the component part of a Fellowship, when from an entry in the Skinners' books (February-March, 1605-6), it appears that in 4 Henry VII. an indenture tripartite was made between the Master and Wardens of the Skinners of the first part, the Upholders of the second part, and the Chamberlain of London of the third part, whereby the Upholders were admitted into the Skinners' Fraternity. This was a compact on the lines of the old commercial alliance between the two Associations as touching a certain branch of the peltry industry ; and although we have not seen the text of the treaty or agreement, it was doubtless either temporary or special, and did not extinguish the inde- pendent existence of the less ancient community; for in 1502 the Upholders appear in one of the municipal lists as fifty-second in order, but without a Livery. They had been amalgamated with the Skinners merely for specific purposes — perhaps for municipal protection and con- venience. But when we reach the second year of Charles L, and find the Upholders at length in possession of a charter, it is somewhat remarkable that by some of its terms a right of supervision is granted over work executed by the Craft, whence it may or must be deduced that in 1626 the new Company counted among its constituency some, at least, who were manufacturers — possibly of furniture and coffins. At this date the position and resources are indicated by the subscription of the rather moderate sum of 2/. ?s. ^\d. toward the outlay incurred by the City in connection with the coronation of Charles I. in 1629. The governing body is composed of a Master, Wardens, and Court of Assistants. The Court calls up members from the Livery, which is unlimited, at its discretion. In 1699 the Livery was returned at 121, in 1724 at 144, in 1739 at 131, in 1882 at 38, and in 1892 at 33. In 1739 the fine was 4/. IDS. 656 THE MINOR COMPANIES. But all fines and fees have long been abolished, and the income arises from the interest on 8,35 497-8, 502 5 Income 491, 495 ; Livery 492 ; Numerical Strength 495 ; Ordinances 488, 489, 490, 494 ; Pall 395 ; Plate 500 ; Poverty 498-9, 503 ; Powers 70 ; Prizes offered by 495-6. Foundries, Prohibition of 311. Framework Knitters' Company, The 505-7 ; Charter 506 ; Constitution of Court 506 ; Hall 507. Francis, John, of Northampton 520. Fracernity of St. Anthony 129. " Free Burgage " 69. " Freedom of the City " 75, ?6, So. Free Fishermen, Company of HI. Freeholds, City, 36-7. Freemasonry, Origin of 567. Freemasons, The 565-6, 567. Freemen, Their Number 81. French Merchants, Company of 162. Friers' Hall, The, used as glass factory 5i5- Frill, Thomas, Gifts of 465. Fripperers — see Upholders. Frith Gild, The 61. Frodsham, Wm. Jas., Clockmaker 425. Fromantel, Ahasuerus, Clockrnaker 425. Fruiterers' Company, The 507-10; Biblio- graphy 509-10 ; Connection with Irish Estate 508 ; Constitution of Court 508 ; 682 INDEX. Order of Precedence 508 ; Prizes offered by 508. Fullers, The 112-3; Their Importance 332. „ „ at Newcastle 73. Funds, Application of 67. Furbishers, The 1 13. Furs, List of, anciently in use 251. Gale, Robert, Vintner, Bequests of 327. Gale, Thomas 367. Galley Quay 319. Galoches, Introduction of Wooden 454, 582. Garden, The Physic, of the Apothecaries 352. Gardeners' Company, The 114. Garlands, Ornamental 395. Garrett, James, Apothecary 348. Case, John, Saddler & Baker 360. Gedde, Walter, Glazier 518. Geffery's Estate 301. " Genossenschaften," Establishment of 74- Gerard, Benet, Brewer 388. " Gewerbe-Ordnung," The 74. Gibbons, Grinling, Joiner 547. Gibson, Nich., Sheriff, Bequests of 446, 447. Gild of Corpus Christi 291, 293. „ of Pilgrims 263. „ of St. George of Norwich 73. " Gild Day," The 67. Gild Merchant, The 62-3. Gilds, Adulterine 396 ; Continental 72-5, 164-6; Suppression in various Countries 74-5- "Gilds of Bridge" 299. Giles, Thomas, of Lombard Street 310. Gill, William, Lord Mayor 637. Girdlers' Company, The 131, 510-4; Antiquity 511 ; Charter 511 ; Connec- tion w. Irish Estate 513 ; Constitution of Court 5 13; Hall 5 13, 514; History 511 ; Income 513 ; Numerical Strength 513; Ordinances 512; Property 513, 514 ; Union w. Wyreworkers and Pinners 511. Gisors, Sir John de, Lord Mayor 194. Glass-Sellers' Company, The 514-7 ; Bibliography 517 ; Bye-laws 516 ; Charter 515 ; Income 516; Numerical Strength 516. Glaziers' Bill 518. Glaziers' Company, The 517-9; Biblic- graphy 519; Bye-laws 519; Charter 518, 519; Committal of Members to Newgate 518 ; Constitution of Court 519 ; Estate 519. Glover, Nathaniel, Painter, Exorbitant charges 577. Glovers' Company, The 134, 520-3 ; Bibliographer 523 ; Charter 522 ; Con- stitution of Court 522 ; Grant of Arms 520 ; Hall 522 ; Numerical Strength 522 ; Order of Precedence 521 ; Ordi- nances 520, 521 ; Union with Pursers and Leathersellers 521. Glovers-Pursers and Leathersellers' Com- pany 134, 521, 550-1. Gloves, Price of, in I4th cent. 522-3. Godale, William, Currier 555. Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers' Company, The 369, 523-7 ; Bibliography 527 ; Charter 525-6 ; Constitution of Court 526 ; Grant of Arms 527 ; Numerical Strength 526. Goldsmith, Oliver, Apothecary 352. Goldsmiths' Company, The 232-47 ; Ac- counts 241-2 ; Administrators, 64 ; Arrest 234 ; Bequests made to, Re- gaining of 236-7 ; Bibliography 247-9; Charters 234-5, 236 ; Dispute w. Mer- chant Taylors 232, 263 ; Effects of Fire of London 244 ; Eminent Members 246 ; First Notice of 232 ; Hall 243 ; Income, Sources of 241-2 ; Livery 244 ; Numerical Strength 242 ; Ordi- nances 237, 246; Powers 70; Privileges 235-6, 237 ; State Visits to Fairs 238 ; Trial of Skill 240. Gordon Riots 428. Grace, Thomas, Founder 489. Graham, George, F.R.S., Clockmaker 425. Graveley, Edward, Master Carpenter 406. Great Beam, The King's 126, 165. Great Crosby School 94. Green, William, Leatherseller 560. Greene, Thomas, Brewer 385. Greenhill, Mr., Painter 581. Gremois, The Spanish 75. Grendon, William, Scrivener, Fraud of 614. Grenecroft, Richard, Tallow Chandler 641. Gresham, Sir Rich., lends money to Mercers' Co. 178. Gresham, Sir Thos., founder of Royal INDEX. 683 Exchange 181, 182; Queen Elizabeth dines with him 445. Gresham, William 181. Greshams, The 181-2. Grey Tawyers, The 147. Grocers' Company, The 187-94 ; Adminis- trators 64 ; Articles of Merchandise 1 89 ; Bibliography 194-7 ; Complaint against their Drugs 347 ; Connection with Irish Estate 190; Court of Assistants 188 ; Eminent Members 194 ; Enmity to- wards Grocers 348-9 ; Financial Em- barrassments 191; Foundation 130; Hall 193 ; Losses by Fire of London 191 ; Numerical Strength 192 ; Ordin- ances 188-9; Origin 187 ; Philanthropic Works 192 ; Privileges 71 ; Right of Search 189-90; Severance from Apothe- caries 190 ; Staff 193. Gunmakers' Company, The 528-30 ; Charter 528 ; Hall 529 ; Income 529 ; Numerical Strength 529 ; Ordinances 529 ; Powers 70 ; Proof House, White- chapel 529. Guy, Thos., Founder of Guy's Hospital 183. Haberdashers' Company, The 285-92 ; Almshouses 290 ; Articles of Com- merce 287; Bibliography 291-2 ; Char- ters 286-7 ; Connection w. Irish Estate 288; Constitution of Court 288; Hall 288-90 ; Ordinances 288 ; Origin 285 ; Schools 290 ; of St. Katharine the Virgin and of St. Nicholas 115 ; Shop- contents in 1378 115-6. Haines, John, Carperfter 407. Hall, The Common 3, 80, Si. Hall-Moots, Bakers', Objects of 104 ; Fishmongers' 221. Halliwell Chalice, The 129. Halliwell, Geoffrey de, Pepperer 191. Halls, The 46. Hannis, John, Framework Knitter 506. Hanseatic League, The 164-6. Harris, John, Clockmaker 425. Harvest, Edw., Gunner and Brewer 388, 528. Haselwood, John, Leatherseller, Bequest of 557. Hatband Makers' Society, The 116-7. Hatherley, Sir John, Lord Mayor 303. Hatters, The 117. Haymongers, The 117-20. Heath, John, Clothworker 339. Heathcote, Sir Gilbert, Lord Mayor 328. Heaumers, The 117, 355. Heith, John, Cooper 439. Helmetry, Trade of 117. Hend, John, Lord Mayor 206, 210-1. Herbert, W., Hist, of the Twelve Great Companies 52. Herne, William, Sergeant-Painter 581. Hewer, William, Clothworker 339. Hey ward, James, Linen Draper 121. Heywood, Thomas, Dramatist 534. Hicks, Sir Baptist, Vise. Campden 181. Hickson, James, Brewer 385. History of Thomas Hickathrift 389. Hobson, William 290-1. Hoddesden, Thomas, Glover 520. Hodgkin, Mr., Saddler 611. Honnor, Young Geo., Saddler, Bequests of 610-1. Honnor's Home 610. Hook, Charles, Schoolmaster 241. Horn, Andrew, Author of Liber Horn 217,219. Horn Fair 530. Homers' Company, The 316, 530-7; Charter 531 ; Connection with Bottlers 534 ; Decline 532-3 ; Exhibition 533 ; Fairs 530, 531 ; Fees 532 ; Income 532 ; Numerical Strength 532 ; Order of Precedence 531'; Privileges 531-2. Horse- Corsors, Union with Innholders 538. Horse-dealers, The 155. Hospital of St. Thomas of Aeon 169. Hostler, Origin of the word 118-9. Hostelers, The 117-20. " Hot Cross Buns" 104. House of Black Nuns 246, 267, Housman, Mr., Painter 581. Howard, William, Clothworker 338. Howard and Watson, Painters, Trial be- tween 578. Howell, James, Author 208, 515. Howell, Thos., Bequest of 207-8, 210; Will 207, 211. Hudson's Bay Company 163. Hulet, Mr., Stationer 636. Hungerford, John, Shearman 136. Hunt, And., Girdler, Bequest of 513-4, Hunter, John, Apothecary 352. Hunter, William, Apothecary 352. Hurers, The 120 ; Bibliography 121. Hurriers — see Hurers. 684 INDEX. Iddesleigh, Earl of, Feltmaker 485. Income, Corporate 96-8, 99. Incorporation 27. See also the names of the various Companies, passim. Innholders' Company, The 118,537-43; Bibliography 542-3 ; Charter 538, 540 ; Hall 538, 340 ; Income 541, 542 ; Nu- merical Strength 540; Origin 537 ; Salt- cellar 542 ; Trust Estate 541, 542 ; Union with Horse-Corsors 538. Inns of Court 63 ; Primitive 118-9. " Innungen," The Austrian 74. Instrument-Makers, The 155. Irish Estate 28-32 ; Apportionment of property among Companies 176. See also names of the various Companies, Passim. Iron trade in England 298-9. Ironmongers' Company, The 298-314 ; Antiquity 298, 299 ; Armoury 307 ; Arms 301, 305 ; Bibliography 312-4 ; Charters 300-1 ; Connection with Irish Estate 312 ; Election of Wardens 303-4 ; Furniture 307-8 ; Governing Body 79 ; Hall 304-8 ; Inventory 305, 306 ; Letter to, from Qu. Elizabeth 308 ; Limitation of Rights 301-2 ; Livery 303 ; Numerical Strength 302 ; Order of Precedence 300 ; Ordinances 301, 302 ; Original Colony 304 ; Owners of Manor of Norwood 305 ; Public Disbursements 308 ; Reply to Royal Commission 312 ; Stability 302. Isaacson, Paul 579. Iwyn, John '182. Jacob, Richard, Vintner, Bequests of 326. Jacob, Sibilla, Bequests of 326. James, Sir Barthol., Lord Mayor 206,655. James, Edward, Upholder 655. James, John, Shipwright 620. Jansen, Sir Stephen Theodore, Lord Mayor 637. Jarman, Mr., Architect 650. Jenner, Edward, Apothecary 352. Johnson, Whit, and Oliver Davy, Gold- smiths, Contention between 240. Joiners' Company, The 543-7 ; Charter 544 ; Dispute with Carpenters 416, 547, with Saddlers and Painters 573-4, 604 ; Governing Body 79 ; Hall 545 ; Income 544 ; Numerical Strength 544 ; Ordi- nances 543, 544 ; Frauds committed by 603. Jones, John, Pewterer, Bequests of 589. Jones, Sir Francis, Lord Mayor 290. Jones, Thomas, Innholder 541-2. Jones, Mr. William, Will of 290. Jordan, Thomas, City Poet 337. Judd, Sir Andrew, Founder of Tonbridge School 259. Jugge, Richard, Stationer 637. Jurisdiction, Municipal, over Urban Gilds 67-8, 80. Karlille, William, Bottle-maker 534. Keats, John, Apothecary 352. Keball, Jane, Bequest of 630. Kemp, John, a Fleming 156. Kent, Countess of 339. Kent, Felicia de 304. Kent, Robert de, Horse-merchant 304. Kett, Benjamin, Vintner 328. Key, John, Lord Mayor 637. King, Mr. Thomas, Founder 500. King's Beam, The 349. King's Pike Ponds, The 219. King's Society, The 318. Kingston, Henry de 318. Kinton, Thomas, Cutler 465. Kirriol, Sir Thomas, of Kent 360. Kneller, Sir Godfrey, Painter 581. Knight, George, Painter 577. Knighten Gilds 61, 68. Knollis, Sir Thomas, Pepperer 194. Knyvett, Sir Anthony 440, 446. Knyvett, Dame Avyce, 440, 448. Kynaston, Mr. Edward, Vintner 635. La Blanche Chap el ft 113. Lambe, William, Oothworker 339. Lambert, William, Founder of Qu. Eliza- beth's College at Greenwich 211. Langley, Chas., Brewer, Bequests of 388. Lapidaries, The 122. Large, Robert, Mercer 182. Latchford, Mr. Benjamin, Lorimer 563. Latimer, Mr., Farrier 483. Leathersellers' Company, The 133-4* 3°°> 548-61 ; Almspeople559 ; Bibliography 134, 560 ; Charters 550, 552, 553 ; Con- nection with Irish Estate 555 ; Constit. of Court 534 ; Education 555 ; Edward Darcie 533-4 ; Expenditure 555 > Gar- lands 560 ; Hall 556, 557, 558 ; Numeri- cal Strength 81 ; Order of Precedence 552 ; Ordinances 549, 550, 552 ; Origin INDEX. 685 548 ; Pall 560 ; Plate 559-60 ; Property 81, 555 ; Union w. Glovers 521, 550-4, w. Pouch-makers 551, w. White Tanners 549- Lee, Henry, Fuller 112. Lee, Nathaniel, Dramatist 398. Lee, William, M.A., Inventor of Frame- work Knitting 505, 506. Leeds, Clothworkers' College at 341-2. Lely, Mr. Peter, Painter 581. Lespicer, Thomas, of Portsmouth 218. Levant Company, The 159. Liber Custumarum 52, 53. Liber Horn 52, 53, 217. Licences in Mortmain 22, 30. Lightermen, The Company of 149. See also Watermen. Lincoln, Wm. de, Saddler, Bequest of 61 1. Linen-Armourers — see Merchant Taylors. Linen-Drapers, The 121, 205. Lions, Richard, Lapidary, Beheadal of 123. Literary Notices, a few General, 673. Livery, The 19, 75, 77, 79-80. Liverymen, Franchise of 80-8 1. Lizard, Manor of 312. Locksmiths, Position of 311-2. Lockyers, The 311-2. Long, Laurence le, Brewer 380. Long-Bowstring Makers 144, 375. Lord May or, Election of 80 ; Shows 309-11. Loriners' Company, The 82, 141, 561-4 ; Bibliography 564 ; Charter 562 ; Con- stitution of Court 562-3 ; Disputes with Joiners 604, with Saddlers 604 ; Eminent Members 563 ; Hall 563 ; In- come 563 ; Numerical Strength 563 ; Ordinances 562, 603-4. Lotall, Mr., Clockmaker 425, 502. Loth bury, Bad Reputation of 493-4, 496. Lottery, Public 357. Lovekyn, Sir John, Lord Mayor 224, 227, 229. Lovelace, Col. Rich., Poet and Painter 581. Luck, Mr., Bricklayer 650. Lustring Company, The Royal 163-4. Luxury, Growth of 319. Lydgate, John, Poet, Charge against Bakers 104. Magnay, Christopher, Lord Mayor 637. Magnay, William, Lord Mayor, 640. Mailmakers, The 155. Makers of Vinegar, Aqua Vita: and Aqua Composita, The 149. Malyn, John, Carpenter, complaint against 407. Manor of Norwood 305. Manor of Pellipar 312. Marblers, The 121-3; Bibliography, 122. Mark, Ralph, Brewer 578. Market, Leadenhall 398-9. Markets, Meat 397. Marleberer, Hugo 122. Marlow, Sir Richard, Lord Mayor 303. Marshall, Joshua, Mason, bequest of 566. Mascall, William, bequests of 388. Mason, Peter, Founder of Merchant Taylors' Trusts 266. Mason, Roger, Vintner, bequests of 326. Masons' Company, The 564-8 ; Byelaws 564-5 ; Charters 565 ; Grant of Arms 565 ; Hall 567 ; Income 566 ; Influence 568 ; Numerical Strength 566 ; Order of Precedence 565. Master, The 19. Master-Surgeons 362 Masterman, Mr. John, M.P. 448. Matfrey, Hugh, Fishmonger 218. Mauncy, Thomas, King's Carpenter 406. Maur, John, Alderman 135. Maxhall, Nicholas, Ironmonger 300. May, John, Deputy-Alnager, 336. Mayerne, Sir Theod. de, Physician to King 467-8. Mead, Constituents of 377. Meat Markets 397. Meat, Prices in 1378 400. Megucers, The 148. Mellow, Laurence, Oil Merchant 140. Membership, Grades of, in London 75. Mepell, William, Founder 503-4. " Mercerie," Meaning of the Term 176. Mercers' Company, The 169-86 ; Admin- istrators 64 ; Articles of Merchandise 169-70, 176-7 ; Benefits conferred by Whittington on 170-2, 173; Bibliography 173, 181, 185-6 ; Byelaws 171 ; Charters 170; Connection with Irish Estate 175-6; Court of Assistants 180-1 ; Eminent Members 181-2 ; First Mayor 169; Governing Body 79; Hall 178-9; Loss by Fire of London 184; Origin 169; Richard II. Co-founder of 174; Staff 185. Merchant Adventurers, The 158; of Bristol 73 ; of Newcastle 73 ; New French 162. 686 INDEX. Merchant Taylors' Company, The 263- 84 ; Bibliography 282-4 5 Charters 264, 267 ; Connection with Irish Estate 269 ; Constitution of Court 278 ; Discontent 279 ; Dispute with Goldsmiths 232, 263, with Skinners 260, 271 ; Dis- tinction from Drapers 265 ; Educational Endowments 281-2 ; Eminent Members 280-1 ; Estates 266, 268-9 ; Expendi- ture, Sources of 281 ; First Notice of 263 ; Functions 264 ; Hall 273-7 ; Legend of the Devil and M.T. 263 ; Losses in Fire of London 268-9 ; Numerical Strength 278 ; Order of Precedence 270 ; Ordinances 267-8 ; Privileges 267, 280 ; Public Calls on Finances 269-70, 271-2 ; Records 271-3 ; Religious Attributes 264 ; School 93, 94, 281-2 ; " Strikes " among 278-9. Merchants' Company of York 73. „ Company of French 162 ; of East India 161 ; of Elbing 158 ; of the Levant 159; of Russia 159; of Spain 161 ; of the Staple 157 ; Biblio- graphy 163. Meyne, New 318. Micole, John 323. Milliner, Origin of the term 120. ,, Funeral of a 1 16. Milliners, The 120. Minstrels' Company, The— see Musicians. Mirror of Justices 219. " Mistery," Meaning of the term 24. Mivell, William, Founder 503-4. Monk, General, Visit to Clothworkers' Hall 337 ; to Vintners' Hall 324-5. Monk, John 465. Monnox, Sir George, Philanthropist 211. Montague, Mistress, gives Stockings to Queen Elizabeth 177. Moon, Francis Graham, Lord Mayor 640. Morgan, Stephen, and Alice Chester, In- denture between 406. Morgan, Sylvanus, Painter 578, 581. Morley, Samuel 649. Mortmain, Licences in 22, 30. Moscovite Company, The 159. Motteux, Peter 480. Motun, Hugh, Colourman 573. Mullins, George, Plasterer, bequests of 589. Munday, Anthony, Dramatist 211. Municipal Commission 50-1. Musicians' or Minstrels' Company, The 568-70; Bibliography 570; Charter 568-9 ; Connection with Irish Estate 569 ; Income 569 ; Numerical Strength 569 ; Order of Precedence 569. Needlemnkers' Company, The 73, 571-3 ; Bibliography 573 ; Charter 572 ; In- come 572 ; Numerical Strength 573. Nepton, Thos. Poulter, bequests of 600. Nets, Unlawful, Seizure of 219. Netters, The 155. Nevill, Colonel 152. New East India Company 161. „ French Merchants' Adventurers 162. „ Meyne, or New Gathering Society 318. Newman, Robert, Founder 489. Newton, Mr., Clockmaker 425. Nicholas, Sir Ambrose, Lord Mayor 296. Nichols, Humphrey, Baker 105. Nicholson, Thomas, Cordvvainer 454. Norman, Sir John, Lord Mayor 210. Northerne, Stephen le, Store Dealer 654. Norton, John, Stationer, bequest of 637. Norwood, Manor of 305. Nowell, Mr., Goldsmith 636. Ogilby, John, Merchant Taylors' Pen- sioner 272. Oglethorpe, General, Founder 494. Old Wool Quay, Sale of 445. Oranges, Introduction into England 189. Ordinances 21-2. Ostler, Origin of the term 118-9. Owen, Dame Alice, and her benefactions to the Brewers' Company 385, 387. Oxenford, John de, Lord Mayor 328. Oxford House 296. Pabingham, Simon de, Mason 564. Pageants, City 44-5. Painters' Company, The 573-82 5 Biblio- graphy 581-2 ; Charters 575, 578 ; Con- nection with Irish Estate 578 ; Con- stitution of Court 575 5 Dispute with Joiners and Saddlers 573-4 ; Eminent Members 581 ; Fines 581 ; Hall 575» 5/8, 579-8o; Inigo Jones dines with 580 ; Numerical Strength 578 ; Order of Precedence 575 5 Ordinances 574, 575-7 ; Poverty 577- Painter-Stainers-— see Painters. Palls, Carpenters' 394 J Coopers' 394-5, INDEX. 687 440, 444 ; Founders' 395 ; Worked by Broderers 394, Cost of same 394. Palmer, William, Blader 106. Pannarii, The 134-6. Pargettors— see Plaisterers. Parish Clerks' Company, The 123-5 ; Hall 124 ; Plays 124. Parkes, John, Cutler 465. Parkhurst, Thos., Stationer, Bequest of 637- Pastelers, The 430, 431. Patten Makers, The 134, 582-4 ; Charter 583 ; Constitution of Court 583 ; In- come 583. Paviours, The 125. Peacock, John, Clothvvorker 335. Peech, John 548. Peele, George, Dramatist 522. Peele, James, Glover 310, 522. Peele, Stephen, Stationer 522. Pellipar, Manor of 312. Pepis, John, Clockmaker 426. Pepperers' Company, The 126-30 ; Added Function 128 ; Ordinances 126 ; Union w. Spicers 129 ; Weights used by 126-8. Pepys, John, Clockmaker 426. Pepys, Mr., Cutler, Gift of 466. Pepys, Samuel, Clothworker 338, 339. Pewter, Common Use of 586-7. Pevvterers' Company, The 312, 316, 584-90 ; Bequests to 589 : Bibliography 590 ; Charters 584, 585, 586 ; Connec- tion w. Irish Estate 588 ; Constitution of Court 588 ; Fees 588 ; Grant of Arms 584 ; Hall 589 ; Income 588 ; Numerical Strength 588 ; Order of Pre- cedence 588 ; Ordinances 585 ; Ordi- nances against 587 ; Rights 585-6. Physic Garden, the Apothecaries' 352. Physicians, College of 350, 352. Picard, Henry, Lord Mayor 324, 328. Pie-Bakers, The 430. Pike Ponds, The King's 219. Pilchard, Mr. Stephen, Founder 500. "Pilgrim," The 264. Pilgrims, Gild of 263. Pin-Makers' Company, The 131-2 ; Bib- liography 132. See also Pinners. Pinners, The 131-2 ; Union with Wire- workers and Girdlers 511, 513. Pix, Trial of the 239. Plaisterers' Company, The 590-3 ; Char- ter 591 ; Complaint against Carpen- ters 592 ; Connection w. Irish Estate 592 ; Constitution of Court 591 ; Dis- pute with Tylers and Bricklayers 591 ; Grant of Arms 591. Planers, The 132. Plastrer, Adam le, Plaisterer 590. Platt, Richard, Brewer, Founder of Aldenham Almshouses and Schools 385, 388. Playing-card Makers' Company, The 593-4- Pleasant Conceits of Hobson 290. Plumbers' Company, The 594-7 ; Charter 596 ; Constitution of Court 597 ; Order of Precedence 596 ; Ordinances 595, 596 ; Property 597. Porters, The Fellowship 154-5. „ Packers' Waterside 155. „ The Tackle 154-5. „ The Ticket 155. Portsoken, Meaning of 61. Potter, Mr. Secondary, Turner 649. Potters, The 133 ; Absorbed by Braziers 355- Pouchmakers' Company, The 133-4 ; Articles sold by 551-2 ; Union with Leathersellers' 551. Poulters' Company, The 598-601 ; Anti- quity of 599, 600 ; Bibliography 600-1; Constitution of Court 600 ; Income 600; Numerical Strength 600 ; Order of Precedence 600. Prannel, Henry, Vintner, Bequests of 326. Price, Mistress, Gift of 396. Priory, St. Helen's 557-8. Priour, John, Tallow Chandler 641. Prisca, Coborn Charity 446-7- Proof House, Gunmakers', Birmingham 529 ; Whitechapel 529. Proufote, Robert, Shipwright 620. Pudding Lane, Origin of the name 399. Pulteneys, The, Earls of Bath 210. Pursers, The 134 ; Union w. Glovers 521. " Pursers of the Bridge " 299-300. Pynson, Richard, Printer 637. Quare, Daniel, Clockmaker 425. Quay, Galley 319. Quo Warranto, Writs of 42, 309. Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks 583. Rameseye, Master William de, Mason 564. Ramsey, David, Clockmaker 425. Randall, Lewis, Pewterer, Bequests of 589- 688 INDEX. Randolf, Margery 129. Rawlins, Thos., Engraver to Mint 581. Raynton, Thomas, Marbler 122, Read, Sir Bartholomew, Goldsmith 243. Reive, Nicholas, Scrivener, Bequest of 616. Report of Royal Commission — see Com- mission. Retail Traders of London and Suburbs, Proposed Corporation of 154. Retunders, The 134-6. Returns of the Gilds 39, 41. Richard II., Co-founder of Mercers' Com- pany 174. Richardson, Samuel, Novelist 637. Richardson, William, Esq. 269. Rider, William 505. Riots, Gordon 428. Robins, John, Pewterer, Bequests of 589. Robinson, Sir John, Lord Mayor 338, 339. Rokesley, Greg, de, Lord Mayor 234, 246, 670. Rowland, Henry, Gunmaker 528, 529. Royal Commission — see Commission. „ Lustring Company, The 163-4. Rudinge, Mr. Richard, Founder 492. Rumbold, Nich., White Tawyer 555-6. Russell, John, Wool-packer 153. Saddlers' Company, The 81, 319, 601-13 ; Almshouses 610 ; Antiquity 601 ; Aris- tocratic Nature 607 ; Burials 608 ; Charters 603, 605, 607 ; Connection with Irish Estate 608 ; Constitution of Court 609 ; Disputes with Joiners 573-4, 604, with Loriners 604, with Painters 573-4 ; Education 610 ; Estates 610 ; Exhibitions 610; Frauds 603; Hall 601, 611-2; Income 610 ; Numerical Strength 81, 609 ; Order of Precedence 609, 610; Ordinances 604, 606, 609; Quarrels 319 ; Pall 608 ; Titledeed 602. St. Anthony, Fraternity of 129. St. Bartholomew's Priory, Seizure of Counterfeit Plate in 237-8. St. George, Sir Henry 295. St. Helen's Priory 557-8. St. Paul's School 93-4 ; Dean Colet's Benefactions to 172-4 ; Founding 172 ; Plays Performed by Scholars 175 ; Statutes 174-5. St. Thomas of Aeon, Hospital of 169, 172. Salaries 97. Salle, Edmund, Clothworker 578. Salomons, Mr. David, Lord Mayor 448. Salt, White, Manufacture of 294. Salters' Company, The 292-7 ; Alms- houses 297 ; Antiquity 292 ; Biblio- graphy 297 ; Charters 293-4, 295 ; City Property 294 ; Connection with Irish Estate 294 ; Constitution of Court 293-4 5 Founding 293 ; Halls 295-9 J Ordinances 294 ; Trade 292. Salt-fishmongers, The 143. Samborne, Richard, Cooper 443. Sandford, John, Founder 490. Sandwich Fair 670. Sawyers, The 137. Scattergood, Thos., Pewterer, Bequest of 589. School, Aldenham Grammar 93, 384, 388 ; Great Crosby 94 ; Merchant Taylors' 93, 94, 281-2 ; St. Paul's -see St. Paul's School ; Stationers' 634 ; Tonbridge 93, 94, 259. Schools, The Companies' 93-5 ; Classical 93 ; Coopers' 446-7. Scot, John, Printer 241. Scriveners' Company, The 312, 613-9; Bibliography 619 ; Business of 616, 617 ; Charter 615 ; Connection with Irish Estate 616 ; Constitution 615; Decline 617; Hall 617; Income 61 8 ; Livery 6f4; Numerical Strength 618 ; Ordinances 614, 615 ; Powers 70. Search, Power of, by Companies, 22-3. Searle, Robert, Lord Mayor 169. Segrave, Gilbert de, Bishop of London 243- Segrave, Sir Nicholas de 243. Seres, William, Printer 634. Serjeants' Inn 63 ; Division of Property of 73. Serving-Marts Comfort 535. Seynturer, Benedict, Sheriff 510. Shakespear, John, Ironmonger 303. Sharpe, Richard, Wax-Chandler 310. Shearmen's Company, The 134-6 ; Elaborate Regulations 136 ; Hall 337 ; Importance 332 ; Scale of Wages 136. Sheathers, The 137. Sherley, Robert, sen., Goldsmith 244. Shermen 135, 271. Shipup Society, The 318. Shipway, Michael 402. Shipwrights' Company, The 619-22 ; Charter 620 ; Fees 622 ; Grant of Arms INDEX. 689 620; Hall 622; Ordinances 619-20, 621 ; Property 622. Shipwrights' Company, Foreign 621. Shivers, The 116, 137. Shoes, Price, in I4th cent. 453. Short, Mr., Scrivener 615. Shuldham, Guy, Vintner, Bequest of 323. Shurley, Sarah, Founders' Housekeeper 504. Sierra Leone Company, The 161. Silkmen, The 138. Silk-Throwers, The 139 ; Bibliography 139- Sizer, The 491, 493. Skidmore, Stephen, Vintner, Bequest 327. Skinners' Company, The 250-62 ; Biblio- graphy 261-2 ; Charters 251, 252, 253, 254-6,259; Connection with Irish Estate 261 ; Dispute with Fishmongers 260, with Taylors 260, 271, 473 ; Dissatisfac- tion among Artisans 257; Earliest Home 257-8 ; Eminent Members 259 ; Estates 259 ; Hall 258 ; Income 261 ; Numeri- cal Strength 260 ; Ordinances 252 ; Original Nature 256-7 ; Privileges 251-2 ; Procession of Corpus Christi 260. Slaughter of Animals, Regulations Con- cerning 398. Sloane, Sir Hans, Gift to Apothecaries 3p. Smith, Isaac, Pewterer, Bequest of 589. Smith, Mr. W. H., M.P., Feltmaker and Stationer 485, 628. Smollett, Tobias, Apothecary 352. Soap-Makers, The 130, 140; Bibliography 140-1. Soapers, The 130, 140. Society of Retail Traders of London and Suburbs 154. Sommers Island Company, The 160. Song in Praise of the Leather Bottle, A 535-7- South Sea Company, The 163. Spain, Merchants of 161. Sparke, William 308. Spectacle Makers, The 82, 623-4 ; Bibliography 624 ; Numerical Strength 624. Spencer, Sir Jno., Clothworker 335, 339. Spicers of Cheap, The 129, 141 ; Date of Incorporation 128. Spurriers Company, The 141-2 ; Union with Blacksmiths 372. Staple Inn, Division of Property of 73. Staple, Merchants of the 157. Staple, Removal of from Calais 664. Stapylton, Alderman 296. Starchmakers Company, The 142-3 ; Bibliography 143. Stationers Company, The 70-1, 624-41 ; Antiquity 626 ; Bibliography 640-1 ; Charities 634 ; Charter 627 ; Connec- tion w. Irish Estate 634 ; Continua- tion of Practical Duties 349 ; Eminent Members 637 ; Fines 628 ; Hall 634-6; Income 630 ; Livery 630 ; Numerical Strength 628 ; Order of Precedence 627, 630 ; Ordinances 627-8 ; Origin of Name 625 ; School 634. Statutes of the Streets against Annoy- ances 399. Sterne, Thos., Currier, Bequests of 457, 458, 459- Stinard, Alice 305. Stock-fishmongers Company, The 143-4. Stocking Weavers — see Framework Knit- ters. Stockings, Knitted 505. Stody, Sir Jno., Lord Mayor, Bequests of 323, 324, 326. Stone, Sir Wm., Silk Mercer to Queen Elizabeth 177. Stourbridge Fair 531. Stay, Ralph, Pewterer, Bequest of 589. Stringers, The 144, 375. Strode, Hy., Cooper and Founder of Schools and Almshouses in Egham 446, 447- Simnynge, William, Carpenter 405. Surgeons' Company, The 145-6 ; Act of Parliament Concerning 363 ; Biblio- graphy 145-6 ; Exemptions 364 ; Hall 350 ; Union w. Barbers 363-4, Dis- solution of same 365. Sutton, Thos., Founder of Charterhouse 514. Swan, Humphrey, Broderer 396. Swan Warden, The 322. Swanson, Thos., Pewterer, Bequests of 589. Swarms of Bees 656. Swayne, Mr. John, Painter 577. Sydenham, Dr., Apothecary 352. Tackle-Porters, The 154-5. Tailor, John, Master of Westminster School 310. AA 690 INDEX. Tallow Chandlers' Company, The 641-5 ; Articles of Commerce 643 ; Charters 642-3 ; Connection w. Irish Estate 643 ; Constitution of Court 644 ; Fines 645 ; Grant of Arms 641 ; Hall 645 ; Income 645 ; Ordinances 643-4. Tallow, Price of 657. Tanners, The 147. Tapestry Makers, The 147. Tapissers, The 147, 393. Tariff, Fish 218. Tatam, Boniface, Vintner, Bequests of 326. Tate, Sir Jno., Brewer, Gifts of 386-7. Tate, Master, Crown Official 409. Tavern- Keepers, Regulations for 318. Tawyers, The Grey 147. The White 148. Tax, Corporate 2-3. Taylor, John, The Water Poet 150. Taylors — see Merchant Taylors. Teasel, Fuller's 113. Telarii, The (Weavers) 135. Teutonic Gild 126, 164-6 ; Hall 165. The Smith that forged him a New Dame 371. The Tooth Drawer 368. Thedr, Richard, Feltmaker 484. Thompson, Robert, Founder 492. Thornhill, Sir James, Painter 581. Three- Craned Wharf, The 319. Throwsters Company, The 139. Thurlow, John, Tallow Chandler 641. Ticket-Porters, The 155. Tilson, Thomas, Glass-seller 515. Tin- Plate WTorkers Company, The 646-7; Exhibition 647. Tobacco-Pipe Makers, The 148. Toke, Robert, Ironmonger 300. Tompion, Thomas, Clockmaker 425. Tomson, Richard, Cook 432. Tonbridge School 93, 94, 259. Tonson, Jacob, High Sheriff 637. Tottell, Richard, Stationer 637. Tournour, Warner de, Merchant Taylor 263. Townsend, James, Esq., M.P., Lord Mayor 558. Trade Usages and Claims 41. Trades, Enfranchisement of London 18. Trades Unions and Gilds, Difference between 32. Trevor, Sir Thos., Baron of Exchequer 339- Trial of the Pix 239. Troubles of Queen Elizabeth 290-1. Truscott, Francis Wyatt, Lord Mayor 640. Turkey Company, The 159. Turner, Henry the 648. Turner, John the 648. Turner, Richard the 648. Turner, William the 648. Turners' Company, The 648-50 ; Charter 649 ; Constitution of Court 649 ; Ex- hibitions 649 ; Prizes offered by 649. Tyffins, John, Founders' Cook 492. Tylers and Bricklayers' Company, The 650-3 ; Almshouses 653 ; Bibliography 653 ; Charters 651-2 ; Connection with Irish Estate 652 ; Constitution of Court 652 ; Dispute with Plaisterers 591 ; Hall 652-3 ; Income 652 ; Numerical Strength 652. Tyrold, Thomas, Bottle-maker 534. Ulster Plantation, The 28-32. Underwood, Jasper, Vintner, Bequests of 326. United East India Company 161. Upholders Company, The 653-6 ; Char- ters 655 ; Constitution of Court 655 ; Grant of Arms 655 ; Income 656 ; Nature of Business 654-5 ; Numerical Strength 655 ; Union w. Skinners 655. Upholsters — see Upholders. Vautrollier, Thomas, Printer, 637. Venables, William, Lord Mayor 637. Venetian Company, The 164. Verrio, Sir Antonio, Painter 581. Villiers, Sir Edward 525-6. Vindication of the Companies' Corporate Estate 98-100. Vintner, Punishment of a 318. Vintners' Company, The 315-30 ; Alms- houses 323 ; Bibliography 328-30 ; Charters 320-1 ; Constitution of Court 322 ; Customs 325 ; Formation 317 ; Gifts by 326 ; Grant of Anns 320 ; Hall 323-4, 325, General Monk at 324-5 ; Income 323 ; Incorporation 320 ; Limitations of Licence 320 ; Mea- sures in use by 317 ; Mode of conduct- ing trade, 317; Numerical Strength INDEX. 691 323; Ordinances 321; Powers 70; Relics 325; Rights 317, 318, 321, 322; Rights, Limitations of 320, 321-2. Vintry Ward, The 319. Virginia Company, The 160. Virginia Emigration Movement 415. Vyner, Sir Robert, Sheriff 244. Wages 32. Waley, John, Printer 241. Wallis, Richard, Painter 578, 581. Walworth, Sir William 225 ; Statue 227 ; Will 229. Ward, Stephen, Wax Chandler 657. Ward, Thomas, Shipwright 622. Warden 19. Warden, Robert, Poulterer, Bequest of 600. Warden, The Swan 322. Warner, Mr. Edward, Founder 502. Warren, William, Minstrel 569. Watermen, The Company of 149-51 ; Bibliography 151 ; Table of Fares 150. Water-clocks, Manufacture of 417-18. Waterlow, Sir Sydney, Lord Mayor 640. Watson, John, Gunmaker 529. Watson and Howard, Painters, Trial be- tween 578. Wax Chandlers' Company, The 656-9 ; Charter 658 ; Constitution of Court 659 ; Hall 659 ; Numerical Strength 659 ; Order of Precedence 659 ; Ordinances 658 ; Property 659. Wax, Large demands for 656-7 ; price of 657-8. Weavers' Company, The 134-6, 660-7 ; Antiquity 66 1 ; Bibliography 163, 666-7 5 Charters 661-3, 665 ; Connection with Irish Estate 665 ; Constitution of Court 663 ; Hall 666 ; Numerical Strength 666 ; Order of Precedence 665 ; Ordi- nances 663, 665 ; Property, 666. Weavers, Alien 156. „ Flemish 156. Webbe, Christopher, Salter 295. Webster, Sir Godfrey 339. Wells, Sir Spencer, Apothecary 352. Wetham, Richard de, Mason 564. Wheelwrights' Company, The 667-9 J Charter 667, 668 ; Constitution of Court 668 ; Fines 668 ; Income 669 ; Numeri- cal Strength 669. Whifflers 500. Whitbread, Samuel, Brewer 385. White, Master 409. White Book of the City of London 52-3. White and Brown Bakers, United Gild I03-5» 358 5 Charters, 358 ; Division between 358. White Tawyers, The 148 ; Connection with Leathersellers 549. Whitehead, George, Shipwright 622. Whitehead, Sir James 508-9. Whittawyers' Company, The— see White Tawyers. Whittington, Sir Richard, 52, 181 ; char- acter 173-4; death, 171 ; Fines Brewers 381 ; Gift of Leaden Hall to Corpora- tion 399. Willement, Mr. Thomas 535. Williams, Sir Richard, alias Cromwell 557. Williamson, Sir Joseph 338. Willimot, Sir Robert, Lord Mayor 444, 448, 472. Willingham, Mr. George, Gift of 580. Wilson, Sir Erasmus, Apothecary 352. Wine Drawers 318. Wine, in London, Regulations 317-8. Wing, Thos. Wm., bequest to Cloth- workers 339. Wisley, Richard, Founder 500. Wire-Drawers, Gold and Silver 369. Wire-workers, The — see Wyreworkers. Wolfe, Reginald, Stationer 637. Wood, James, Bowyer, Bequest of 375-6. Wood, Joane, Gifts to Brewers 387. Wood, Robert, Alderman 300. Wood, Thomas, Ironmonger 302. Wood, Toby, Cooper 446. Woodfall, Henry Sampson, Printer 637. Woodmongers, The 151-3 ; Bibliography 153 ; Incorporation with Carmen 109 ; Relations with Clockmakers 1 52 ; Rup- ture with Carpenters 416. Woolmen, The 153, 670-3 ; Charter 672 ; Constitution of Court 672 ; Ordinances 672. Woolpackers, The 1 53, 670. Woolwinders, The 670. Worde, Wynkyn de, Stationer 626, 637. Wotton, Sir Nicholas, Lord Mayor 204. Wright, Mr., Painter 581. Wright, Nicholas, Glover 520. Wright, Richard, Ironmonger 302. Wright, Thomas, Lord Mayor 637. Writs of Quo Warranto, 42, 309. Wyld, George, D.D., Painter 581. Wymond, Thomas, Fuller 112. INDEX. Wyrevvorkers 131 ; Union with Girdlers and Pinners 511, 513. " Yeomanry," The 19, 301 ; Cause of their Discontent, 19, 20. Young, — , Glazier to Queen Elizabeth 517. Young, John, Cordwainer 452. Zouche, Sir Alan de la, Pepperer 194. Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. A SELECT LIST OF WORKS OR EDITIONS BY WILLIAM CAREW HAZLITT OF THE INNER TEMPLE CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. 1860-1891. HISTORY OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC: Its Rise, its Greatness, and its Civilization. With Maps and Illustrations. 4 vols. 8vo. Smith, Elder & Co. 1860. A new edition, entirely recast, with important additions, in 3 vols., crown 8vo, is in readiness for the press. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS AND NOTES. 1867-76. Medium 8vo. 1876. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS AND NOTES. Second Series. 1876-82. Medium 8vo. 1882. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS AND NOTES. A Third and Final Series. Medium 8vo. 1886. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS AND NOTES. Supplements to the Third and Final Series. 2 vols. Medium 8vo. 1889-92. A GENERAL INDEX TO HAZLITT'S BIB- LIOGRAPHICAL WORKS (1867-89). By G. J. GRAY. Medium 8vo. 2 vols., about 1000 pp. [/« the Press. This invaluable volume will assist the student and collector in using the several volumes of which the Series now consists, and will enable him to ascertain at a glance whether and where a book, tract, or broadside is to be found. It is a labour which Mr. Gray has undertaken con amore, and reflects the highest honour on his industry, discernment, and literary zeal. *%* All these books are now on sale by Mr. QUARITCH. MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HAZLITT. With ^Portions of his Correspondence. Portraits after miniatures by JOHN HAZLITT. 2 vols. 8vo. 1867. BLOUNT'S JOCULAR TENURES. Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors. Originally published by THOMAS BLOUNT of the Inner Temple in 1679. An entirely new and greatly enlarged edition by W. CAREW HAZLITT, of that Ilk. Medium 8vo. 1874. SHAKESPEAR'S LIBRARY : A Collection of the Novels, Plays, and other Material supposed to have been used by Shakespear. An entirely new edition. 6 vols. i2mo. 1875. CATALOGUE OF THE HUTH LIBRARY. [English portion.] 5 vols. Large 8vo. 1880. 200 copies printed. AN ADDRESS TO THE ELECTORS OF MID- SURREY, AMONG WHOM I LIVE. In Rejoinder to Mr. Gladstone's Manifesto. 1886. 8vo, pp. 32. " Who would not grieve if such a man there be ? Who. would not weep if Atticus were he ?" — POPE. SCHOOLS, SCHOOLBOOKS, AND SCHOOL- MASTERS. A Contribution to the History of Educational Development. 1 2 mo, J. W. Jarvis 6° Son. 1888. Pp. 300 + vi. Survey of the old system of teaching — Dr. Busby — Early Dictionaries — Colloquies in the Tenth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Centuries — Earliest printed works of instruction, Donatus and others — Stanbridge — Robert Whittington — Guarini of .Verona — Vulgaria of Terence— School Classics — Erasmus and More— Dean Colet — Foundation of St. Paul's — Thomas Linacre — Wolsey's Edition of Lily's Grammar — Merchant Taylors' School — Old Mode of Advertising — Private Establishments— Museum Minervse at Bethnal Green — Manchester Old School— Shake- spear, Sir Hugh Evans, and Holofernes— Educational Condition of Scotland— Female Educa- tion—Shakespear's Daughters— Goldsmith— Ascham and Mulcaster— Ben Jonson and Shirley, writers of Grammars — Foreigners' English — Phonography — Bullokar — Charles Butler — Dr. Jones. A LITTLE BOOK FOR MEN AND WOMEN ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH. 1 2 mo. Reeves 6° Turner. 1891. TALES AND LEGENDS OF NATIONAL ORIGIN OR WIDELY CURRENT IN ENGLAND FROM EARLY TIMES. With Critical Introductions. 8vo. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 1891. 0 A MANUAL FOR THE COLLECTOR AND AMATEUR OF OLD ENGLISH PLAYS. Sin. 4to. Only 250 copies printed. Pickering 6° Chatto. HD Hazlitt, William Carew 64.62 The livery companies of L7H37 the city of London PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY